Aqueduct Hotlist - December 18

Today’s New York Hot List races to watch – Friday, December 18, 2020 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 – (1) Doctor K has two pace pressing second-place finishes at the Gulfstream Park tracks and has since moved to the barn of Rudy Rodriguez. He puts blinkers on which is a 26% winning move. (5) Stimulus Maker was sent off at 5-1 in his debut in a Parx maiden special weight for Colts Neck Stable and Jorge Duarte. Here, he drops into this $50,000 maiden claimer. (9) Excellorator will move to the dirt for the first time after racing at Woodbine on the Tapeta and then fourth behind a very good Pletcher horse on the grass at Aqueduct. (2) Sinashack was second at the Big A for a $40,000 tag in his third start.

2^nd race – (4) Magnetique was second most recently in a starter allowance and now returns to the $40,000 N2L claimer level. (7) Girardi was third in his last two starts, most recently in a starter allowance at Parx for Linda Rice. (3) Tuff Bird was claimed from a $20,000 N2L at Churchill Downs and will now race for Bruce Levine. He’s got early speed to use in this field. (1) Secret Zar will ship up to New York from Parx for his first start at Aqueduct after also running third in his last two starts for trainer Butch Reid.

6^th race – (2) Beautiful Karen has the lead in the stretch and got nosed out at the wire in a NY-bred maiden special weight for Linda Rice. She will stretch out a bit in this seven furlong spot. (3) Munnings Muse set the pace in that race with the top choice and ended up third. (8) Bella Domenica will cut back to sprinting where she had more success earlier in the year at Saratoga and Belmont Park. (7) I’m Fine moves back to state-bred company and moves from turf to dirt where he had success at Aqueduct in the pre-COVID winter.

7^th race – (10) Ink Splotz (D) took lots of late money as a longshot which is unusual with his odds dropping from 31-1 to 24-1. Now he gets class relief moving from a $40,000 claimer to $16,000. (3) Cohiba Ghost moves from Woodbine and changes barns to that of Wayne Potts who had a good Fall meeting at the Big A. This field has lots of early speed and this guy prefers to make a later move. (1) Shandian will make his first start for Rudy R. who claimed him from a similar $16,000 N2L claimer at the end of Otcober. (4) Principal Dancer returned from a three-month layoff for the Bond barn and finished third. Improvement is expected in this spot.

Best bets:  Magnetique (2^nd); Beautiful Karen (6^th). Best value:  Doctor K (1^st); Ink Splotz (7^th).