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.

4^th race [Md Sp Wt, 7F] – (5) Roger Roger since coming back from a layoff to start 2026 has hit the board in all three starts. (3) Pop Goes the Wiz ran an improved third in his second start behind the top pick. (4) Fateful Lightning returns from a December layoff when he was third in a maiden special weight at Aqueduct. (1) Frostelle ran his best career race when he showed speed in a maiden claimer and finished third last month.

5^th race [NY, Md 40000, 7F] – (4) Mach Schnell pressed the pace in his third start, finished third in what was his best race, and blinkers go on. (3) Twenty One Red dropped in to a maiden claimer for the first time and was second after racing on the lead. (5) Gallant One debuts for Pletcher and Repole with a bullet work showing as a $220,000 yearling purchase. (2) Classic Commander drops in for a tag as he changes barns since his trainer retired and blinkers come off.

6^th race [OC 75k/N2X, 6 ½ F] – (4) Garamond returned from a six month layoff and ran second in a Tampa allowance for Chad Brown. We remember Garamond from his third in the Gotham (G3) last year. (1) Ranger Battalion won a first-level allowance at Aqueduct last month after several starts with similar speed figures. (3) Sacrosanct was a front-end winner following a short layoff two weeks ago. He won his first four starts against NY-breds with three stakes wins. (5) Toxic Gray has three second-place finishes in these second-level allowances.

7^th race [Alw 50000s, 1 1/8 mi] – (1) Awesome Empire won a $30,000 claimer by three lengths in the best race of his career. (2) Senegal won his last two starts moving from a $30,000 claimer to a starter allowance for NY-breds. (5) Kavanaugh won his last two races for $20,000 and was claimed from both of them. (4) House United comes back in seven days after running second from what was his eighth top three finish from 12 starts.

Best bets: Roger Roger (4^th); Garamond (6^th). Best Value: Mach Schnell (5^th); Awesome Empire (7^th).