Belmont Park Hotlist - July 9

Today’s New York Hot List races to watch – Thursday, July 9, 2020 at Belmont Park
                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.

6^th race – (6) Back Channel (B) ran second in her debut for Linda Rice who usually does not win with firsters. She set the pace in that race and got beat by a Chad Brown runner while well ahead of the others. (8) Capraia’s Destiny was fourth as a firster while racing greenly and was bet down to 9-1 for low profile connections. She returns from a February layoff and gets blinkers. (1) Sky Queen has a second and a third in maiden special weights in New York and now cuts back in distance to seven furlongs. (7) Simply Sweet will make her debut for Bill Mott. She is out of the mare Sweet Catomine who won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and a few other Grade 1s in California.

7^th race – (5) No Word (C) was bet from 8-1 to 9-2 for Todd Pletcher and ran third after a bobble at the start and then ran in tight quarters along the rail down the stretch. He returns in another first level allowance. (4) Shamrocket broke his maiden with a career best speed figure last time out for Clement. (6) Buy Me Candy set the pace in an allowance at Churchill Downs last time and got caught at the wire. (8) Arithmetic got claimed for $40,000 at Belmont from Clement after running a strong second. He won his first two starts in a maiden claimer then a starter allowance and is in for $80,000 in this OC allowance.

8^th race – (4) Dovey Lovey (C) moved to a starter allowance from an eight length N3L victory yet still was bet down from 9-2 to 5-2. He stalked the pace as he usually does and rallied from fifth to take the lead at the stretch call and extended to cross the line by a length. With four career wins, he now moves to a first-level allowance. (5) Mrs. Danvers ran second in her 2020 debut at Belmont and trainer Shug McGaughey brings her right back in about two weeks and stretches her out to a mile. (2) Grand Cru Classe was a geared down debut winner at Gulfstream Park for Bill Mott who usually does not win with first timers. (3) The Great Johanna has four career wins including one against open company in a starter allowance so she is still eligible for this NW1 allowance.

9^th race – (4) Come Storming (C) was bet down from 11-1 to 6-1 when she dropped out of the maiden special weight ranks for the first time and ran third after having the lead and now drops down another notch to a $40,000 tag. (6) Simply Miss Red was second in her 2020 debut just a length from the top spot for a top turf trainer in David Donk. (10) Wicked Happy made a big improvement in her first start of the year in a similar race and could move ahead from there. (2) Fleet Stepper made her debut for that $40,000 tag for Christophe Clement who is having a very good Belmont meeting.

Best bets:  No Word (7^th); Come Storming (9^th).  Best value:  Back Channel (6^th); Dovey Lovey (8^th).