Saratoga Hotlist - August 20

Today’s New York Hot List races to watch – Thursday, August 20, 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.

2^nd race – (6) Thankful was second at Belmont Park after a big closing move and Todd Pletcher gave the daughter of American Pharoah a brief freshening to prepare for Saratoga. (4) Heavenly Sis has three place finishes in a row and should benefit from the increase to nine furlongs. (1) Simply Sweet will make her second career start for Bill Mott which is usually a time for improvement from a Mott runner especially on the dirt. (2) Tonal Verse has run well in all of her dirt starts for Graham Motion. She will still be running at the end of the mile and an eighth.

4^th race – (8) Threepointninenine (D) flashed speed when he dropped into a maiden claimer on the turf for the first time where he was bet down from 9-1 to 6-1 after a Covid-19 caused layoff. (7) Disciplanarian has two show finishes in a row at this NY-bred level for trainer David Donk who had three winners on Saturday’s card. (6) Boom Boom Kaboom dropped into the claiming ranks for the first time and wore blinkers for the first time with a difficult trip. Now he stays in a similar type race, but the blinkers come back off. (5) Lorcan tried a longer distance and got forced to run wide throughout. He will cut back to a sprint where he had his best races.

6^th race – (7) No More Miracles (B) got off to an awkward start, rallied into contention up the rail, and then faded in a N2L claimer. He now makes the switch from dirt to this turf sprint for Donk where he ran well last year. (5) Big Wonder makes that big drop from starter allowance where he has shown speed and earned figures that top this field to N2L restricted company for the first time. (1) Go Rudy Go will make his first try in the N2L condition for Rudy Rodriguez. (8) Jack of Clubs will make his first start for trainer Mike Miceli as he tries this condition for the first time and gets blinkers on. This trainer has been known to improve horses when they join his barn.

8^th race – (5) Speightstown Gal came out running this year with an allowance win and then a narrow loss in her second start while turf sprinting against NY-breds for George Weaver. Last start at the Spa she showed early speed. (7) Lead Guitar ships up from Kentucky to face state-breds again. Last time she broke through the gate in stakes race at Ellis Park. (4) The Important One won an allowance in her first start after moving to the barn of Steve Asmussen using a late rally. Rosario stays on board. (1) Merlins Muse will move back to face NY-breds after running in an N3L claimer in her 2020 debut for Donk.

Best bets: Thankful (2^nd); Threepointninenine (4^th). Best value: No More Miracles (6^th); Speightstown Gal (8^th).