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.

7^th race [Pennine Ridge (G2), 1 mi TURF] – (3) Risk Tolerance (A) was bet down to 3-1 in his career debut and ran an impressive race to beat a field of 12 for Chad Brown. He was purchased as a yearling at the Tattersall yearling sale in England for $309,000. The Irish-bred son of Kingman worked at Saratoga and Belmont in preparation for his first stakes race. (2) Legend of Time is part of a string of horses that European trainer Charlie Appleby set up to race in America for Godolphin. He was fifth in his American debut in the Colonel Liam at Gulfstream Park after winning three times this year at Meydan in Dubai. (7) Triple Espresso will try and get trainer Todd Pletcher his fourth win in this race. He is stakes placed on the grass and last time was fourth in the Jeff Ruby (G3) behind three eventual Kentucky Derby runners. (5) Royal Majesty was a recent allowance winner at Keeneland as the favorite for Bill Mott.

8^th race [NY, Alw 80000 N1X, 1 1/16 mi TURF] – (2) Smokie Eyes (A) stumbled to her knees at the start in her first race of the year, got into contention, and finished fourth. (7) Smokin Hot Kitty won her two most recent starts on the dirt with early speed and was a turf winner at Saratoga last summer. (3) Stella Mars returned from her winter break from turf racing with a fourth-place finish and gets the blinkers on. She had two open-company wins last year. (5) Determined Lilly has turf wins at Mid-Atlantic tracks and will nod race against NY-breds for the first time.

9^th race [Clm 12500, 1 mi] – (5) Candy Tycoon (D) was stepping up in class and got bet down from 6-1 to 3-1, finished fifth, and now drops down to his lowest level. (7) Tommy Gun (B) broke through the gate, then got a slow start as a horse that prefers to press the pace, and had no chance. He got claimed for $10,000. (6) Funkenstein got claimed from a $10,000 victory and moved up to $16,000 and finished second. Blinkers go on. (4) Valenzan Day was claimed four times last year and made his first start of this year in a $40,000 race.

10^th race [NY, Alw 80000 N1X, 6F TURF] – (11) Russi (B) was off for the winter and ran well in his first start of the year when he rallied for second. (2) Allied Attack (C) gets blinkers on for a horse that has already been on the lead in a few                                                    races. (4) Power Attack won both of his starts this year and they were in turf sprints against open company. (5) Big Prankster had a troubled trip in her 2024 debut when                                                          lacked room to run down the stretch.

Best bets:  Risk Tolerance (7^th); Candy Tycoon (9^th). Best value: Smokie Eyes (8^th); Russi (10^th).

Saturday Pick 3 Special --
Saturday Special $1 Pick 3 covers races 7-9 and includes the Pennine Ridge (G2) à 3 with 2, 3, 5, 7 with 4, 5, 6, 7 = $16.