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 worst
* - 4 or more betting notches if 11-1 or more.

1^st race [NY, Md 30000, 7F] – (3) Practical Miss (C) was bet down from 5-1 to 3-1, got the lead, then lost a head bob. (7) Dream On Cara will make her second start after a layoff with 13 days rest. Last time she was third and gets a rider upgrade. (2) Teresa was eased in her last start yet comes back now in seven days. Two races back she was a close third. (4) Army of Thoughts climbed badly on a sloppy track following a second-place finish beaten by just a neck.

2^nd race [Alw 82000 N1X, 7F] – (5) Golden Rocket won through the NY-bred allowance conditions and then moved up to open company and ran second all the way around the track. (2) Sweetest Princess also won both of the state-bred allowances at Aqueduct in November and since was third twice. (1A) Fancy Azteca won her last two starts and her last three runs were in high-priced claimers. She was claimed from the recent races for $40,000 and $50,000. (3) Risk Free finally broke her maiden after a series of top three finishes including a second in the Floral Park at the Big A.

3^rd race [Clm 35000 N3L, 6F] – (6) Talkin Pharoah won a maiden claimer and a starter allowance for Linda Rice before unsuccessfully trying the turf in August and has been off since then. (2) Necromancer returned from an eight month layoff and ran fourth at this level. (7) Little Luca won at the N2L condition at Monmouth Park in June and then was off until last month when he ran third in a N3L race and got claimed. (3) Bayou Spirit won his N2L race two races back for Linda Rice and then moved up to a starter allowance.

4^th race  Alw 16000s, 1 mi] – (4) Rungius won a $50,000 starter allowance going nine furlongs and had six top three finishes in a row. (5) Khafre made a big improvement in his first start after getting claimed when he won on the front-end by more than four lengths and got his best speed figure. (2) Magnolia Midnight was in too tough in a second-level allowance after six top three finishes including four victories. (3) Amedeus Music has a couple of seconds in NY-bred allowances.

Best bets: Practical Miss (1^st); Rungius (4^th). Best value: Golden Rocket (2^nd); Talkin Pharoah (3^rd).