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.

2^nd race [NY, Md 40000, 6 ½ F] – (5) Eight and Sand (D) actually finished first in his final start of 2022 but was disqualified from the purse money. He changed to the barn of Rob Atras for his 2023 debut in a maiden special weight where he was bet down from 7-1 to 5-1 and now drops back in for a tag. (4) I Can See That will make his career debut for Bruce Levine who has had his first-time starters ready to win. (6) Rhum Pressure will make his first starter for a trainer that has done well with his runners at Aqueduct this year. (2) Central Pride will drop back down to a claimer after a couple of solid efforts in maiden specials.

4^th race [Md 20000, 1 mi] – (1) Improper will drop into a maiden claimer for the first time after hitting the board three times. (8) Mo Than Luck finished second and third in the first two starts of his career and now goes in for a tag for the first time. (3) Crunch B B B will make his debut for a trainer who has won with firsters in the past. This horse is out of a stakes winning dam that produced a few good winners. (4) Father of Lies will also make his first start and is out of a mare that was graded stakes placed and produced three winners from three to start.

7^th race [NY, Alw 72000 N1X, 1 mi] – (6) Simply (C) was heavily bet down from 10-1 to 4-1 and rallied late from tenth to finish second beaten by four lengths by a Todd Pletcher runner that was coming back from a layoff. (2) Golden Code came back from a long layoff to finish fourth after finishing third in the Gotham (G3) last year for Pletcher. (7) Bobby Bo was last seen in 2021 running second in a NY-bred stakes race and now comes back for Michelle Nevin after making his previous four starts for Bob Baffert. (1) Mason Mania won three races at Penn National last year and has top three finishes this year against NY-breds since moving to Jeremiah Englehart.

8^th race [Clm 16000 N2L, 6F] – (2) The Cobbler came back from a long layoff to finish second beaten by a nose and was claimed for $16,000. His first start for the new trainer was in a second-level allowance which was way too tough. (9) Super Quality ran off to an open length victory last time in a $20,000 maiden claimer as the odds-on favorite. (1) Johnselectricride broke his maiden for a $25,000 tag in May and tried a $25,000 claimer in his 2023 debut last month. (3) Vive Bien was third in his first start of the year following a layoff since Saratoga.

Best bets:  Eight and Sand (2^nd); Improper (4^th). Best value:  Simply (7^th); The Cobbler (8^th).