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 [Floral Park, 6F TURF] – (4) Secret Money drops out of a series of graded stakes races this year where she had good results rallying from off the pace. Last year she won the Music City (G3) at Kentucky Downs. (5) Risk Threshold came back from a three-month layoff to win her second race in a row in an allowance turf sprint for Chad Brown last month with the best speed figure of her career. (3) Love Appeals won a stakes race at Monmouth Park in August and then was third at Laurel Park. (1) Loon Cry won her last three races with stakes victories at Laurel and Woodbine, each time she rallied from far back after getting fast paces to run into.

8^th race [NY, OC 45k/N2X, 1 mi TURF] – (2) Clear Conscience (A) got slammed coming out of the gate and lost all chance as a horse that wants to race out front. (10) Runningwscissors has been racing against much tougher open company allowances and now moves back to face NY-breds while running for the claiming option. (8) Locke and Key moved to the turf four races back and has picked up checks in all of those starts. (5) Bettrluckythangood is in top form this year when he broke his maiden, won the first-level allowance, and then was top three after moving up to the next level. (12) Call Me Henry will be the second choice if he gets in from the Also Eligible List.

9^th race [Alw 92000 N1X, 1 mi] – (8) Pentathlon set the pace and finished third last month at Aqueduct going nine furlongs. (3) Escalation Clause broke his maiden in a debut race last year and then stumbled badly returning from a long layoff and managed to get fifth. (2) Colloquy was claimed twice from open claimers at Saratoga with a close second and a victory most recently in August. (4) Mama’s Gold came back from a seven-month layoff at Aqueduct where he got to the lead in the stretch but ended up second.

10^th race [NY, Md 40000, 6F TURF] – (1) Splashy dropped into a maiden claimer for the first time, raced wide, and missed the win by a nose. (9) Better Be Smart also made his first appearance in a claimer and ran better. (10) Superstarsusan was claimed two races back at Saratoga. (6) Addagirl Addie will race for a maiden tag for the first time and cuts back in distance with some past races that would make her a contender.

Best bets:  Secret Money (7^th); Splashy (10^th). Best value: Clear Conscience (8^th); Pentathlon (9^th).

Saturday Pick 3 Special --
Saturday Special $1 Pick 3 covers races 8-10  à 2, 5, 8, 10, (12 AE) with 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8 with 1 = $30.