Saratoga Hot List - July 24

Today’s New York Hot List races to watch – Friday, July 24, 2020 at Saratoga
                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 – (5) Assume drops out maiden special weights to run in a maiden claimer for the first time and cuts back in distance to six furlongs for Todd Pletcher. Her lowest speed figure is the highest in this field. Pletcher wins at 31% with this type of drop down. (4) Hands Up will move from the $75,000 level to a $20,000 tag in this spot for Kentucky based trainer Phil Bauer. (6) Vitanza will make her third start of the current form cycle. Last start she lost all chance at the start when she stumbled badly as she usually breaks alertly. (8) Wishes and Dreams gets blinkers on and switches back to the dirt after two poor tries on the turf. Her previous runs on the main track were better.

2^nd race – (1) Kinky Sox is in excellent form right now with a win in the N2L condition and then she had the lead in her first try at N3L to finish second. She comes right back three weeks later to try the N3L group again. (2) Overtime Olivia tried the turf last time in a starter allowance after having just missed a win by a nose at this level. (5) Hot Little Honey has never run at this level and drops out of a $32,000 open claimer. Her last win came in February at Aqueduct in an open claimer for a tag of $25,000. (7) Movie Score is a consistent sort with a pair of third-place finishes at this level and is worth using underneath in the exotics.

3^rd race – (2) Peaceful makes her second start off a layoff after setting the pace and then finishing second at Belmont Park last month in a six-furlong turf sprint. Her last two speed figures are much higher than the rest of this first-level allowance field. (6) Voting Agreement was third in her 2020 debut for Chad Brown in a similar race in June at Belmont. (3) Sparkling Sky will make her first start of the year after moving from the barn of Todd Pletcher to that of Horatio DePaz. She will cut back in distance from last year when she ran well in two stakes races on the grass. (7) Mo Me Mo My ships east from California for Doug O’Neill where she last ran in May in an allowance and finished fourth.

8^th race – (1) Mount Travers was second in two stakes races last year as a 3-year-old for Linda Rice and came back in his first start of this year to run second in an allowance similar to today’s spot. (7) Free Enterprise made his 2020 debut for Chad Brown at Churchill Downs last month, set the pace, and finished third. (9) Strike That ran first or second in all five of his career races. Most recently, he was on the lead and finished second in a money allowance at Oaklawn Park for Robertino Diodoro, who is worth watching to see how his barn does at Saratoga after having a very strong meeting in Arkansas. (6) Zoomer was claimed for $40,000 two races back and responded with a fourth in a Belmont Park allowance. He may get an ideal pace set-up for his late running style.

Best bets:  Assume (1^st); Peaceful (3^rd). Best value:  Kinky Sox (2^nd); Mount Travers (8^th).