Aqueduct Hotlist - April 15

Today’s New York Hot List races to watch – Thursday, April 15, 2021 at Aqueduct
                By Matt Shifman and Bob Ehalt

Hot List Key:
 A: A preferred horse to watch                         B: Secondary horse to watch
*C: Went down 2 or more betting notches and finished 1st through 3rd
*D: Went down 2 or more betting notches and finished 4^th or worse
* - 4 or more betting notches if 11-1 or more.

1^st race [Clm 35000 N3L, 1 mi TURF] – (7) Crypto Cash ships to New York for Chad Brown and returns to turf racing with good overall speed figures and a past allowance win on the grass and gets Irad in the saddle. (1) Rhythm Section ended his 2020 campaign with a victory in an open $40,000 claimer and now makes his first start on the grass for Michael Maker after a couple of recent trainer changes. (6) Ninja Dust is a confirmed grass runner with a neck loss in a N3L race at Gulfstream Park last month just behind a horse that came back to win. (3) Arithmetic switched trainers to Jeffrey Englehart and comes back from a winter break. He was claimed from Christophe Clement for $40,000 after winning his first two career starts.

2^nd race [NY, Md Sp Wt, 6F TURF] – (6) Mr. Buckley (C) will make his turf debut after three third-place finishes on the Aqueduct main track against state-breds and open company. (9) King Angelo was second in his debut on the Big A dirt and then tried the turf going a mile where he had a troubled trip at the start and he had to check early on. (10) Noble Conquest made an undistinguished debut last month in what now looks like a prep race for this turf race for red hot trainer Jorge Abreu. (3) Sheriff Bianco was last seen racing eighth at Royal Ascot as a 2-year-old for Wesley Ward. He returns as a new gelding with first-time Lasix and blinkers off.

3^rd race [NY, Alw 72000 N1X, 1 mi] – (3) Brattle House broke his maiden on the front-end impressively and then got caught at the wire in a NY-bred stakes race for Christophe Clement. The former $775,000 yearling purchase gets Lasix for the first-time as a 3-year-old in an allowance race. (5) Pleasure Luck has a pair of seconds in allowance races at Aqueduct for Mark Hennig. (4) Mabel Island once again ships up to New York from Parx after two good starts at this level. (6) Fair Lassie will switch back to state-bred company after running second in a starter allowance and is likely to get a strong pace to set up her late running style.

4^th race [Alw 50000s, 1 1/6 mi TURF] – (1) Summer in the City was last seen breaking his maiden in June at Gulfstream on the grass for the very hot Todd Pletcher barn. (5) Mirabell Mei has had the winter off awaiting the return of turf racing at Aqueduct with a good record last year which included a couple of starts in graded stakes. (7) Killer Dress was a starter allowance winner last time out at Fair Grounds for Michael Stidham. (4) Princess Pinky will make the move from dirt to turf although she twice entered in grass races that were run on the dirt. Her current dirt form is very good.

Best bets:  Crypto Cash (1^st); Brattle House (3^rd). Best value:  Mr. Buckley (2^nd); Summer in the City (4^th).