Aqueduct Hotlist - March 27

Today’s New York Hot List races to watch – Sunday, March 27, 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 worse
* - 4 or more betting notches if 11-1 or more.

3^rd race [NY, Md Sp Wt, 1 mi] – (4) Thrill of It came back from a three-month layoff to run the best race of his career with a second-place finish and his best speed figure. He could easily move forward from that effort and get that first victory. (6) Colloquy was third in his career debut at Aqueduct last month for Christophe Clement at odds of 3-1 after racing six wide. (7) Front Porch had an adventurous trip in his first start going nine furlongs for George Weaver when he rallied from 10 lengths behind to finish fourth beaten by less than two lengths. (1) Kaz Sugar Bank made his first start against open company at Penn National and finished second. We have seen this pattern many times before for this owner/trainer/breeder combination.

6^th race [Clm 25000, 1 mi] – (6) Handy won both of his races at Aqueduct and they came this winter in a $35,000 claimer and a starter allowance. Current trainer Wayne Potts is red hot again and won the starter allowance after the claim. (7) Easy Shot won first off the claim for $32,000 for Gustavo Rodriguez and drops down looking to win again. (3) Glory Road returned from a three-month layoff and was a winner and was claimed from Tom Morley for $20,000. (5) It’s All Relevant had two races back from a long layoff where he stepped up in class significantly and improved speed figures a bit.

7^th race [OC62k/N2X, 6½ F] – (2) Core Conviction (B) did not get out of the gate quickly and ended up having to race on the outside on a track that was favoring the inside paths and that was in a stakes race. He won his prior two races before that for Chad Brown. (7) American Monarch returned from a year off to run four excellent races in first-level allowances winning the most recent one with a field-high speed figure. (5) Mr Phil was taken from a $32,000 claimer where he was second by a head. New trainer Rob Atras wins with 26% of his new horses. (1) Fitzpatrick won his first-level allowance in his most recent start for Mark Hennig.

8^th race [NY, East View, 7F] – (5) Yo Cuz is the winner of her last two starts in NY-bred stakes. Both were front-end efforts at Aqueduct, the first at seven furlongs and the second at a mile. (3) Stone Creator broke her maiden at first asking and then ran second behind the top choice in their February start. (6) Salsa a Parte rallied six-wide to get up and win her debut by a neck at Aqueduct last month for Ray Handal. (2) Captainsdaughter has a trio of seconds in stakes races since breaking her maiden at Belmont Park in October. Most recently she was second in a stake at Parx in December.

Best bets:  Core Conviction (7^th); Yo Cuz (8^th). Best value:  Thrill of It (3^rd); Handy (6^th).