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.

1^st race [Clm 40000 N2L, 1 mi] – (4) Masterwork (A) broke slowly, rushed up to the lead, faded badly against tougher competition, and drops back to the claiming ranks. (6) Luceny ran his two best races this year in the winter with a maiden special weight victory followed by a second in an allowance. Three weeks ago, he was sixth and now will drop into a claimer for the first time. (3) Andy Cant made two starts this year with a maiden win for a $20,000 tag last month. (5) Barnstorming was second, beaten by a neck, in his last start in a N2L $25,000 race where he was a voided claim.

3^rd race [Clm 25000 N2L, 6F] – (7) Lady Banker (B) made a rally going three-wide on a track that was favoring inside paths and finished second. (6) First Class Cat moved from a maiden claiming win to get to the lead in a N2L spot and ended up second. (5) Frannie Lew was also a maiden claiming winner and then was second in a N2L condition. After a pair of starter allowances, she will go back in for a tag. (1) Moonlit Weekend broke her maiden for a $30,000 tag last time by more than two lengths.

5^th race [NY, Alw 72000 N1X, 1 mi] – (1) Scoring Chase broke her maiden by almost five lengths in her debut race in November. She has been off since trying the first-level allowance a month later. (3) Shigeko moved back to face NY-breds again in an allowance where she had a pair of fourth-place finishes a couple of races back. (4) Smokie Eyes has been off since December when she was second in an allowance going nine furlongs. (5) Echo in Eternity returned from a seven month layoff and broke her maiden in her second start last month.

8^th race [NY, Md Sp Wt, 6F TURF] – (9) Tongue Twister (B) was second in his only start in October which was a turf sprint. He gets first-time Lasix and ultimately may be best going long. (7) Heavenly Girl was second in her debut at Saratoga after getting the lead in the stretch. She will make her 2024 debut with first-time Lasix. (3) Rookie League will make her first career start for the Chad Brown and Klaravich Stables team. (6) Kant Call It made her first start in July at Saratoga at 7-2, got to the lead, and finished fourth behind two good horses that came back to win. She, too, will make her first start this year with Lasix.                                                   

Best bets: Masterwork (1^st); Scoring Chance (5^th). Best value: Lady Banker (3^rd); Tongue Twister (8^th).