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.

5^th race [NY, Alw 72000 N1X, 1 1/8 mi] – (7) Mason Mania (C) ran one of the best races of his career when he was bet down from 12-1 to 8-1 and rallied from a stalking position to finish second by a nose but was well ahead of the rest of the field. (6) Spirit of St. Louis was an open length winner of his debut back in February for Chad Brown on a sloppy track. (5) Golden Code was third in the Gotham (G3) last year and has two improving starts this year after a long layoff. (4) Olympic Dreams broke her maiden last time.

6^th race [Clm 12500, 1 1/8 mi] – (3) Vintage Hollywood (C) was bet down from 6-1 to 4-1, had the early lead, battled down the stretch, missed by a nose after getting bumped near the wire, and got claimed for $8,000. (4) Hammerin Aamer won for a $16,000 tag three races back and was claimed. The last two races he was in too tough and now drops down. (1A) Caribbean drops down in class significantly and gets a big rider upgrade to Jose Ortiz. (5) Truculent was claimed out of a front-end victory for $10,000 going the nine-furlongs.

7^th race [OC 62k/N2X, 1 1/8 mi] – (5) Kuchar returns from a long layoff and moves to the Todd Pletcher barn. Last year he was second in two stakes at Churchill Downs and Oaklawn Park. (2) Commandperformance has also been off since last summer for Pletcher and was second in the Champagne (G1) as a 2-year-old and a maiden. (4) Celestial Moon returned from a layoff to win an allowance at Aqueduct last month. (1) Tonal Impact finished in the top three in his last nine starts with five wins in high price claimers, starter allowance, and a first-level allowance.

8^th race [NY, Md Sp Wt, 6F] – (1) Dream On Cara was second last time out while adding Lasix for the first. She was fourth twice in NY-bred stakes races. (7) Midnite Confession will make her racing debut and is a half-sister to the multiple stakes winner Betsy Blue. (5) Danseur d’Oro was second following an eight-month layoff. (8) Splashy was fourth in her debut for the Clement barn in November at 5-1. She gets Lasix for her second start.

Best bets: Mason Mania (5^th); Kuchar (7^th). Best value: Vintage Hollywood (6^th); Dream On Cara (8^th).