Aqueduct Hotlist - January 29

Today’s NY Hot List races to watch – Saturday, January 29, 2022 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 worst
* - 4 or more betting notches if 11-1 or more.

2^nd race [OC50k/SAL 50k, 1 mi] – (6) St. Lukes was a geared-down open-length maiden-winner after a three-month layoff and was claimed by Michael Miceli for $30,000. (5) Hot Stepper got his first victory in a maiden special weight for Charlie Baker who is quietly having a great winter meeting at Aqueduct. (4) Convertible Freeze was also a maiden winner who got claimed after a large margin of victory. He was taken for $40,000. (1) R Doc moved from a series of turf races to the dirt and broke his maiden for the $40,000 tag with a late rally.

7^th race [OC 62k/N2X, 1 1/8 mi] – (3) Hammerin Aamer (C) was bet down from 5-1 to 2-1 and rallied late to win a $40,000 claimer which was his third victory from his last four starts. He earned his best speed figure in that win. (1) Mystic Night has two wins from three starts at Aqueduct, drops out of a try in the Queens County, and gets Manny Franco back on board for Chad Brown. (2) Tiergan was a close third the last time he ran at this level which was nestled between three starts in NY-bred stakes. (5) Croatian was claimed for $50,000 in October when he was third and runs for Anthony Dutrow. He won going the nine-furlongs at Monmouth Park this past summer.

8^th race [Toboggan (G3), 7F] – (2) Happy Medium won his last three races by a combined margin of 21 lengths with the two most recent coming at Aqueduct in a pair of allowance races. His speed figures in those wins are higher than every figure in the field except for one by the second choice in this race. This son of Runhappy got two triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures. (3) Hopeful Treasure was the winner of the Fall Highweight (G3) at the Big A back in November by a head with the highest speed figure of his career. He won both of his races at this track while shipping up from his base at Parx Racing. (4) Chateau was third in the Fall Highweight and then came back to win the Gravesend by more than three lengths in his second start following a layoff. (6) Repo Rocks won a starter allowance and a first-level allowance at Aqueduct before shipping to Parx to run second in the Blitzen.

9^th race [NY, Md Sp Wt, 1 mi] – (4) Eminency gets blinkers on after running second and then fourth in similar spots for Rudy Rodriguez. He gets a big rider upgrade to Trevor McCarthy. (5) Barrel of Quests returns from a November layoff and goes from turf to dirt for David Donk with Lasix for the first time. (2) Pineapple Man was a much improved third in his last start on a sloppy track for trainer Mike Maker. (1) Cave Man has shown some speed in his prior races as he ships up from Parx again to face state-breds.

Best bets: Happy Medium (8^th); Eminency (9^th). Best value: St. Lukes (2^nd); Hammerin Aamer (7^th).

Saturday Pick 3 Special --
The Saturday Special $1 Pick 3 covers races 7 – 9 and includes the Toboggan (G3)  à 1, 2, 3, 5 with 2, 3 with 2, 4, 5 = $24.