Aqueduct Hotlist - December 19

Today’s New York Hot List races to watch – Sunday, December 19, 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.

2^nd race [Clm 25000, 6F] – (5) Annika Gold (C) has paired good speed figures in her two races after a layoff. Last time she was bet down from 7-1 to 5-1 and finished second. (6) Customerexperience was claimed from her last three starts and now drops down in her second start after a layoff. (2B) Bay Jewel moves from turf to dirt for new trainer Gustavo Rodriguez and returns to the claiming ranks. (3) Big Al’s Gal makes her first start since being taken for $16,000 last time when she ran third. She is a past winner for $35,000 at Belmont Park in October.

4^th race [Clm 25000 N2L, 1 mi] – (8) Linny Kate (B) moved from turf to dirt last start and rallied from last after a poor start to finish third. The mile distance seems to be a better spot than the six furlongs last time. (6) Creative Legacy (D) took late money and dropped from 5-1 to 3-1 following a lackluster previous race and now she moves up in claiming level from $16,000. (7) Alpine Queen finished second most recently for a young trainer who sends out live horses. (1) Infringement was a debut winner last year at Saratoga and raced on the dirt exclusively in 2020. Now she moves back to the dirt after three tries on the turf and drops to the lowest level of her career.

7^th race [Gravesend, 6F] – (6) Chateau (C) set the pace in the Fall Highweight (G3) and finished third and may have needed that race following a couple of layoffs. She was bet down from 4-1 to 5-2. (5) Wondrwherecraigis has plenty of early speed that he used to cross the finish first in his last four races. Note, he was disqualified and placed second in the DeFrancis (G3) at Laurel. Last time, he won the Bob Ruler (G3) on a sloppy track at Belmont. (4) Drafted will get plenty of pace to run into as he did when finishing second last time in an allowance at Aqueduct. (3) Wendell Fong will make his third start after a layoff with notably improved speed figures in his two most recent efforts.

9^th race [NY, Md 40000, 1 mi] – (7) Oliver’s Fortune (B) returned to the maiden claiming ranks last time and he ran second after getting shuffled back at the half-mile pole. (13) Got the Gold will drop back into claiming races here and takes the blinkers off. Don’t like the outside post but this is a soft spot.  (10) Rush to Honor will make his second career start after running third in his debut back in May. He comes back as a new gelding. Hopefully, he will break more alertly. (12) My Brother Neil showed improvement in his second start following a layoff when he rallied to get the place position.

Best bets:  Linny Kate (4^th); Chateau (7^th). Best value:  Annika Gold (2^nd); Oliver’s Fortune (9^th).