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 [NY, Md Sp Wt, 5F TURF] – (7) El Grande O (B) moved to the turf for his second start and battled down the stretch getting bumped nearing the wire and finished second well ahead of the rest of the field. (2) Jimmythetooth puts blinkers on and gets Irad Ortiz to ride after running third behind the top choice in his debut. (8) Skyler’s Starship is out of a mare that earned $312,000 racing and was stakes placed as a 2-year-old. She has produced 1 winner from two that raced. (4) Perliano is from the first crop of the speedy Mitole.

4^th race [NY, OC 45k/N2X, 1 mi] – (1) Olympic Dreams was second by a head in a NY-bred stakes race earning the best speed figure of his career. (6) Prince of Pharoahs gets a rider change to Irad and has past wins at this level so now runs for the claiming option. He won an open-company allowance for Rick Dutrow off the claim of $45,000. (2) Shadow Dragon won the first-level allowance last month and ran second in the Holy Bull (G3) on the Derby trail. (5) Sundaeswithsandy set the pace and missed the win by a head at this condition and is projected to be on the lead.

5^th race [NY, Md Sp Wt, 6 ½ F] – (8) Thank You Jon got steadied back to last after a bumpy start and then rallied for fourth. (7) Twirling Vine was a stalking second in his first start of the year. (3) Seize the City returns as a new gelding after a second on a sloppy track in his second start. (2) Nobilis was third in his first start of the year behind a horse that romped to an open-length victory.

7^th race [Md Sp Wt, 1 1/4 mi TURF] – (8) Swore came back from a very long layoff for Graham Motion and finished a late running second at Delaware Park after having to check in the early going. (7) Truly Quality ran second in his first two starts and gets Irad back on board. (2) Headline News was a close fourth in his debut during Preakness weekend for a good turf trainer in Jimmy Toner. (4) Fly Right ran the best race of his career in his 2023 debut and Javier Castellano returns to ride.

Best bets: El Grande O (1^st); Olympic Dreams (4^th). Best value: Thank You Jon (5^th); Swore (7^th).