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 [NY, Md Sp Wt, 7F] – (3) Miss American Pie (B) raced nine-wide in her debut and finished third at 5-1.

(1A) Forever to Go (C) was bet down from 8-1 to 9-2 and lost a stretch battle to a heavy debut favorite for her third second-place finish in a row. (5) Moonlight Ready will make her first start with an extensive work tab for the Clement barn. (7) Mega Charger also debuts for a trainer with good numbers with firsters.

2^nd race [NY, Damon Runyon, 7F] – (2) Sand Devil (A) won his first two starts by a combined margin of more than 16 lengths. (5) National Identity was second by a nose behind a very good horse in a NY Stallion Series race. (1) Soontobeking was an allowance winner by a nose with a stalking trip. (4) Fireballin gets blinkers on for his third start. He was a debut winner and then was fourth behind the 5 horse in that stakes race.

3^rd race [East View, 7F] – (4) Bernieandtherose won her last two starts by a combined 14 lengths in November moving from a maiden to an allowance. (1) Naïve Melody shipped up to New York from Kentucky to be a front-end maiden winner at first asking as the 6-5 favorite. (5) Straca made a huge improvement in her third start to break her maiden by more than six lengths. (2) Boston’s Phinest has a second and a fourth in state-bred stakes races for Chad Brown.

6^th race [Md Sp Wt, 6 ½ F] – (11) She’s Complicated (B) got taken up early in her first start, made a fast middle move up the rail, finished second at 5-2, and gets first-time Lasix for Bill Mott. (2) Paula’s a Star (A) finished third in her debut racing against the boys back in May at 7-2. (8) Delaware Devil will make her second start for Linda Rice which usually means there will be a significant improvement. (6) Tremendous Bee is a first-time starter that sold for $135,000 at auction by a stallion with a $5,000 stud fee.

Best bets:  Miss American Pie (1^st); Sand Devil (2^nd). Best Value:  Bernieandtherose (3^rd); She’s Complicated (6^th).

Saturday Pick 3 Special --
Saturday Special $1 Pick 3 covers races 1-3 and includes the Damon Runyan and the East View  à 1, 3, 5, 7 with 2 with 1, 2, 4, 5 = $16.

No.	Name	Letter last race	Today's Race	Comments
(1A)	Forever to Go	C on 12/28	1	Lost a stretch duel to a heavy debut favorite.
(3)	Miss American Pie	B on 12/28	1	Raced nine-wide in her debut and was third.
(2)	Sand Devil	A on 1/2	2	Impressive winner of his two starts.
(2)	Paula’s a Star	A on 5/27	6	She debuted against the boys and finished third.
(11)	She’s Complicated	B on 12/27	6	She was second in her debut asked early race trouble.