Today’s NY Hot List races to watch – Friday, December 16, 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.

1^st race [Md Sp Wt, 6F] – (3) Venge will make his first start with an extensive work tab that has two fast recent works. The son of Gun Runner is out of a graded-stakes winning dam that earned $685,000 on the track. (1) Clubhouse has three third-place finishes in a row and had early speed in two of them for Todd Pletcher. (4) Login Required crossed the finish line first in his debut at Monmouth Park this summer but was disqualified and placed third. Following a layoff he was second last month at Aqueduct. (6) Kool Kathmandu was third in his debut at odds of 5-1 and finished third behind the third choice from this race.

3^rd race [Alw 50000s, 6F] – (4) Cousin Andrew (C) comes back in two weeks after getting bet down to be the favorite in his first start following a layoff from Saratoga. Linda Rice is good with horses that are making their second start after a break. (5) Cees Get Degrees will start in New York for the first time after four excellent races where he was first or second. He had two recent starts in Kentucky which came after racing in California and moves to the Jacobson barn. (1) Hatch was second in his last two starts at this level. (6) Holey Matrimony has a second and a third in these type of races. He was the horse that came back from a more than two year layoff.

6^th race [NY, Md Sp Wt, 6½ F] – (9) Shinfull made her first start on the dirt last month following a layoff and finished a close second at 7-2 with a late rally. (6) Spooky Lady is projected to get loose on the lead in what will be her second start since moving from the west coast. (3) Photon was second in four of her last five starts. She will cut back in distance and get blinkers on. (8) Voleuse did not finish worse than fourth in six career starts.

7^th race [Clm 50000, 7F] – (8) Buckingham Prince will make his first start since being claimed for $50,000 in August at Saratoga following a third. He will race with blinkers again and as a new gelding. (2) Printrack is projected to be able to get a comfortable lead. He was second twice and first in his last three starts. (5) Good Skate has been off since September and will cut back in distance. He won both of his races at the Big A. (1) Funny Joke was claimed two weeks ago by Rob Atras for $35,000.

Best bets:   Venge (1^st); Sinfull (6^th). Best value:  Cousin Andrew (3^rd); Buckingham Prince (7^th).