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 [NY, Md Sp Wt, 1 mi] – (1) Olympic Dreams (B) broke last and had to race six wide on a sloppy track in his first start since June while switching to a new barn and going from turf to dirt. (5) Tie Breaker returns from an October layoff as a new gelding and changes to the barn of David Duggan who is having an excellent winter meeting with new horses joining his barn. (3) Spirit of St Louis is a $300,000 yearling purchase for Chad Brown and Peter Brant making his debut in a field where a good first time starter could win. (7) Refuah has seven top three finishes in a row at three different tracks in his last seven starts.

4^th race [Clm 35000 N3L, 1 mi] – (1) Complete Agenda (B) had a bad trip pretty much from start to finish with a 10 pound apprentice. He now drops down into a restricted claimer for only the second time and gets a significant rider upgrade. (2) Doctor Love drops back to this N3L condition after two goods efforts in starter allowances. (6) Fromanothamutha won a N2L claimer for $40,000 two races back for Ray Handal and finds a better spot to get a win. (7) Blu Grotto rallied from far behind to get second in a N3L last time and the blinkers come off.

5^th race [Md Sp Wt, 6F] – (7) Fabulously Funny (B) stumbled out of the gate, had to steady, and then rallied from the back to get third beaten by only a length in her debut at odds of 4-1. (8) Spelterini has never run a bad race after five starts at this level including a nice stalking rally to get second last month following a layoff. (4) Swanson Lake will ship up from Kentucky for Michael McCarthy to make his debut as a son of Constitution. (2) Risk Free is another consistent performer at this level with a second in his last start.

7^th race [NY, OC 50k/N1X, 6F] – (9) Downtown Mischief (A) was a rare first-time starter to win for Linda Rice. He powered away from the others at odds of 4-1 to win by almost eight lengths. (3) Luna Loca has two wins in a row moving from a NY-bred $40,000 maiden claimer to an eight-length victory in starter allowance. (7) Midtown Lights returns from a December layoff for Brad Cox when he was second in a NY-bred stakes race. (5) Security Code has a pair of third-place finishes in recent NY-be stakes.                                                                                                                                                                       

Best bets:  Complete Agenda (4^th); Downtown Mischief (7^th). Best value:  Olympic Dreams (3^rd); Fabulously Funny (5^th).