Belmont Park Hotlist - October 31

Today’s New York Hot List races to watch – Sunday, October 31, 2021 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.

6^th race [Pumpkin Pie, 7F] – (6) Union Maiden returned from a nine-month layoff to win an allowance at Saratoga impressively for Chad Brown. She would not have to improve much to win this race. (2) Aunt Kat had a three-race win streak snapped when she was second in the Shine Again at Saratoga, but she clearly fits well in this field, (1) Victim of Love won the Vagrancy (G3) at Belmont Park in May for the second time and then caught a sloppy track which was not to her liking. (4) Starfront is another Brown runner that made her 2021 debut after a long layoff and ran well. With only two career starts this filly is a bit of an unknown factor.

7^th race [Bold Ruler (G3), 7F] – (4) Drafted (B) broke last in an allowance, got stuck in traffic, and then had to rally into a slow pace. (3) Plainsman is the winner of 4 out of his last 5 starts for Brad Cox including the one-turn mile Ack Ack (G3) at Churchill Downs that got a 100 BSF. (7) Wondrwherecraigis crossed the finish line first in 4 of his 5 most recent starts. Last race he got DQ’d from the win in the DeFrancis (G3) at Laurel Park. (5) Wendell Fong changes barns to Chad Summers and comes back from a seven-month layoff when was second in the Tom Fool (G3) at Aqueduct.

8^th race [Pumpkin Pie, 7F] – (1) Always Carina gets back to one-turn racing after trying the Cotillion (G1) at Parx last time out. Her first three races, including a second in the Mother Goose (G2) are good enough to win in here. (8) Lake Avenue has been facing very tough competition in recent races losing to the likes of Bella Sofia and Gamine, who will be the two favorites in the Breeders’ Cup. (7) Lady Rocket was second in that race with Bella Sofia and Lake Avenue with two wins in her prior two starts.

9^th race [NY, Md 40000, 6F] – (1) Workingman’s Dude (B) had to check hard on the backstretch of his debut just three weeks ago. (3) El Veinticuatro debuted on the grass for Rudy Rodriguez at Saratoga and then was moved to the dirt by Rudy Rodriguez where he made a big improvement to run third. (9) Empire Station went off at 5-1 in his first career start for George Weaver and finished fourth. Horses like this usually improve in their second start for this trainer whose barn is having a strong Belmont meeting. (10) I’m Over U will drop out of the maiden special ranks and go from turf to dirt after getting well bet in his first two races.

Best bets:  Always Carina (8^th); Workingman’s Dude (9^th). Best value: Union Maiden (6^th); Drafted (7^th).