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 [OC 80k/N3X, 7F] – (2) Piece of My Heart has six top three finishes in a row for Linda Rice including a second in the Interborough three weeks ago. She is entered for the $80,000 claiming option having won at this condition two races back. (5) Mosienko returns from a December layoff after winning four races in a row at Saratoga and Aqueduct and then running third at this N3X level. (3) Self Isolation won three races in a row and then was overmatched in a pair of Aqueduct stakes races. She drops back to this level at which she is a contender. (1) Secret Love does her best running at the Big A where she has a record of 10: 3-2-1.

4^th race [NY, Md Sp Wt, 7F] – (5) Limani (D) was bet down from 7-1 to 9-2 in her second start for Chad Brown back in April and moves from turf to dirt. The Brown barn is winning at a 50% clip at this winter meeting with 13 out of 16 in the money. (1) Laochi was claimed from her recent second-place finish for $40,000 by Linda Rice which came after a five month layoff which justifies the step up in class. (8) Bavarian Crème returns from a November layoff when she was third at this level moving from turf to dirt for the Hennig barn which has been winning races at this meeting. (4) Bon Adieu was well bet in her debut on a sloppy track where the top two finishers came back to win their next starts.

5^th race [Alw 25000s, 1 mi] – (4) Movie Moxy (C) was bet down from 4-1 to 2-1 and rallied from last to get second after tossing her head at the start and was claimed by Linda Rice for $25,000 in a N3L condition. (1) Melting Snow was claimed from her last seven races for $10,000 to $32,000 and won the three most recent starts. This mare loves to win with 10 victories in her last 22 races. She is projected to get loose on the lead. (3) Mia Bea Star finished in the top three in her last seven starts and gets some class relief. (7) My Sweet Wife won 3 out of her last 4 starts and was claimed for $45,000 by Chris Englehart.

7^th race [Clm 40000, 6 ½ F] – (7) Customerexperience (B) ran second after rallying from last and was taken from an open claimer for $40,000. (6) Sister Annie (A) got crushed at the break of her last start in December and lost all chance as a horse that prefers to be pressing the pace. (3) Hydra won at this claiming level two races back and drops back down after trying a second level allowance. (2) Alarm Clock faced the boys last time in a starter allowance and finished third.

Best bets:  Piece of My Heart (3^rd); Customerexperience (7^th). Best value:  Limani (4^th); Movie Moxy (5^th).