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 20000, 1 mi] – (1) Candlestick Maker moved from turf to dirt and rallied for the best finish of her career when she was neck behind the top spot in a similar race at Aqueduct at the end of November. (4) Alwajd was third in her second race following a layoff. She will drop down another notch. (5) Tekila has a lot of chances at this level and has seven top three finishes in her 17 starts. (6) Frosty Invasion gets blinkers on as she moves from NY-bred maiden claimers for the first time.

2^nd race [Clm 25000 N2L, 1 mi] – (3) Brisky Frolic gets blinkers on for her third start after a layoff and drops out of a starter allowance where she was overmatched. She was an easy front-end winner of a $40,000 maiden claimer. She is expected to be on the lead as she moves to an appropriate race choice. (1) Dancing Sophia broke her maiden in a $20,000 claimer and then was fourth and third in a pair of starter allowances. (2) In Traffic got her first career victory last time out in a $30,000 claimer.  (4) Run Devil moved to the New York barn of George Weaver from Florida and has made two improved starts at Aqueduct including a narrow head loss in a similar spot to this condition.

3^rd race [Md 20000, 7F] – (3) Warrior Richard drops down to this low maiden claiming level after a fifth and a second where he was well bet both times. (2) Scootscoot was third behind the top choice in his last start that was for a $30,000 tag. (4) El Gran Cuyaya was sixth in his debut in a $40,000 maiden claimer. (6) Stormandy makes his second start following his debut in a maiden special weight against a strong field back in October for Charlie Baker who has strong stats with horses coming from layoffs of 61 to 180 days.

4^th race [Alw 50000s, 1 mi] – (1) Sa Foradada ships up from Fair Hills after a pair of second-place finishes at this level at Aqueduct. (2) Alpine Queen had the lead in a starter allowance and battled down the stretch losing by a neck. (3) Diamond Collector was second in a $50,000 open claimer in her second start after a long layoff for John Toscano who claimed her two races back. (4) My First Love won a $30,000 beaten claiming race by more than three lengths going the one-turn mile at the Big A.Best bets:  Candlestick Maker (1^st); Brisky Frolic (2^nd). Best value:  Warrior Richard (3^rd); So Foradada (4th).