Belmont Park Hotlist - October 23

Today’s New York Hot List races to watch – Friday, October 23, 2020 at Belmont Park
                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) Millefeuille (B) had a promising debut for Bill Mott going the one-turn mile when she finished second behind a Chad Brown firster. Mott’s second-time starters are always a threat to break their maiden. (5) Plum Awesome is a homebred daughter of Curlin and the Grade 1 winner Plum Pretty who will make her debut after training at Belmont since August for Todd Pletcher. (2) Wedding Band makes her debut for Kelly Breen and Gary and Mary West who own Maximum Security. Breen is a good trainer with first time 2-year-olds. (3) Jamsstar makes her third start for Mark Casse after a third and a fourth.

2^nd race – (1) Mirabell Mei (B) returns from an August layoff after two graded stakes appearances and then an allowance. In that allowance she had t0 check off the heels of another filly in the first turn and now drops into a claimer for the first time. (2) Leeway was a winner last time for Christophe Clement in another turf race for a $40,000 tag and now steps up to $50,000 which is not a significant class difference. (7) Lady Fatima has been off since July with a series of stakes races showing for Casse and she, too, makes her initial appearance in a claimer. (3) Little Red Frog is a consistent performer on the grass and in this type of claiming races for Mike Maker.

3^rd race – (10) Moon Sweeper (B) made a big middle move in her debut for Mark Hennig and shied away from the whip yet still finished third and now stretches out to a route and stays on the grass. (4) Lookin to Fly ran second in her 2020 debut for Michelle Nevin who moves her back to a maiden special weight while staying in the state-bred ranks. Nevin has very good numbers with horses going second time after a break. (7) Kept Waiting was claimed from a nose loss by Ron Falcone which was her third time finishing second in a row. The new trainer was able to get Irad Ortiz as the rider. (5) Lucky Latkes is another one making the move back to maiden special weights after a near miss for the $40,000 tag. Joel Rosario gets the mount for Clement.

6^th race – (1) Knockout Punch (D) took late money after a three-month layoff while racing in a starter allowance as a maiden and ran fourth. He is still a maiden and again entered in a starter allowance on the turf. (5) Chocolate Bar gets a pass for his poor performance in a stakes race after a bad start. Before that he just missed winning a Kentucky Downs allowance following a maiden claiming victory at Saratoga. He gets some class relief in this spot. (7) Alley Oop Johnny set the pace and was beaten by a neck in a $50,000 N2L claimer for the red-hot trainer Bruce Brown. (6) Our Country made a big late rally from 11^th to finish second beaten by less than a length in a N2L claimer for George Weaver. In his prior race, he set the pace.

Best bets:  Millefeuille (1^st); Mirabell Mei (2^nd). Best value:  Moon Sweeper (3^rd); Knockout Punch (6^th).