Saratoga Hotlist - July 23

Today’s NY Hot List races to watch – Friday, July 23, 2021 at Saratoga – Day 7
                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.

3^rd race [Md Sp Wt 100000, 1 mi TURF] – (2) Mubtadaa set the pace for most of his last start at Belmont Park going a turf mile and was caught nearing the wire. The Reeves Thoroughbred entry of (1) Big Everest trained by Christophe Clement and (1A) American Law from Danny Gargan are both win contenders. (6) Charleston Strong gets blinkers on after running third in his 2021 debut for Jeremiah Englehart and Luis Saez stays on board. (9) Realm of Law has three board-hitting finishes in his three career starts for Chad Brown and is likely to do so again.

5^th race [Md Sp Wt 100000, 5 ½ F TURF] – (5) Tuscan Queen had the lead in her debut at Belmont last month and finished third for trainer John Kimmel whose horses usually run better in their second start. (2) Dame Time made a noteworthy improvement in her second start when she switched to the turf and got a place finish. (3) Gailhorsewind got off to a poor start last time and now Linda Rice goes back to her top rider in Jose Lezcano who rode her to a second. (8) Six Feet Apart will make her third start for Wesley Ward. In her first two races, she set the pace and got out-finished down the stretch.

6^th race [OC80k/N2X, 1 ½ mi TURF] – (10) Journeyman (D) will make his third start of the year for Mike Maker after getting bet down from 31-1 to 22-1. (7) Ajourneytofreedom is another runner for Maker and he drops out of stakes competition for the first time since that trainer claimed him last summer. Twice she was graded stakes placed since the claim. (4) Kentucky Ghost ships up from Kentucky with some top speed figures for this group. Two back, he won at a similar allowance level. (11) He’s No Lemon will make his second start of the year for Graham Motion. He also gets some class relief in this spot.

9^th race [Lake George (G3), 1 mi TURF] – (2) Runaway Rumour has done nothing wrong in her career. The NY-bred stepped up from two victories against state-breds to win the Wild Applause against open company at Belmont at the end of June. Ricardo Santana gets back on board for Jorge Abreu. (9) Navratilova was a front-end winner of the Tepin at Churchill Downs. She dug in gamely against a strong field for trainer Rusty Arnold whose horses have been ready to run at the Spa. (10) Minuan leads the Chad Brown contingent of four fillies in the Lake George. The Group 3 winner in Ireland was second last time behind Runaway Rumour. (7) Tobys Heart has been training at Saratoga for Brian Lynch after shipping up from Kentucky. Last year, she won a stake at the Spa and recently was second in the Tepin.

Best bets:  Mutadaa (3^rd); Tuscan Queen (5^th). Best value:  Journeyman (6^th); Runaway Rumour (9^th).