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Keeneland Select

Aqueduct Hotlist - February 5

                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 4th or worse
* - 4 or more betting notches if 11-1 or more.

1st race [Md Sp Wt, 1 mi] – (5) Balpool (B) raced greenly in her debut for Rob Atras and finished fourth after a slow start. (2) Gifted made a vast improvement in her second start at Aqueduct when Bill Mott moved her to the dirt after she made a poor showing in her first race on the grass at Saratoga. (4) River Oaks was third in her first start back in October and now returns with blinkers on and Lasix for the first time for Mott. (1) Alice Kramden also comes back following a debut at Saratoga where she showed some speed early.

3rd race [Ruthless, 7F] – (4) Girl Trouble is in the best form of her career with three victories in a row at Parx. Girl Trouble won an allowance and two stakes races by a combined margin of almost 20 lengths taking control of those races shortly after the start. (3) Malibu Moonshine used a late running style to win all three of her starts for Charlie Baker. Malibu Moonshine won a pair of seven-furlong stakes at Laurel with the first against state-breds. (5) Royal Poppy needed five tries to break her maiden which she did with a front-end effort by six lengths after Ray Handal put the blinkers on. (2) Interpolate broke her maiden in her second start for Chad Brown and then ran fourth behind Girl Trouble in the Parx Futurity after a rough start kept her from getting into a pace-pressing position.

6th race [Clm 25000 N2L, 6F] – (2) Outasite (B) had a disaster filled race when he broke through the gate and then had to race six-wide on a sloppy track. (5) Per Diem will drop into a N2L claimer for the first time for trainer Lynn Cash who races his horses all over the Mid-Atlantic region and that makes it hard to evaluate their form, but he wins at Aqueduct also. (6) Braciole had two seconds following a layoff and now has four place finishes. (3) John’s Protégé was claimed for $16,000 when he showed speed last time. The new trainer has good stats with his new runners.

7th race [OC 62k/N2X, 1 mi] – (3) Winit (A) was taken up early and then was slow to get into stride. He had to race very wide and was second only a neck behind but was well ahead of the rest of the field. (6) Sheriff Bianco won 3 out of his last 4 starts with a second most recently at this allowance level. The Linda Rice barn is red hot and leading the trainer standings at the winter meeting. (4) Bourbonic has not won a race since his stunning upset in the 2021 Wood Memorial. This will be his third start following a layoff and the blinkers go back on which he wore in most of his career. (1) Reggae Music Man broke through the gate when he tried a NY-bred stake last time.

Best bets:  Girl Trouble (3rd); Outasite (6th). Best value:  Balpool (1st); Winit (7th ).

No.NameLetter/
last race
Today's RaceComments
(5)BalpoolB on 12/151Raced greenly in debut and finished fourth after a slow start.
(2)OutasiteB on 12/166Broke through the gate and raced wide on a sloppy track.
(3)WinitA on 1/67Taken up early, raced six wide, and lost by just a neck.