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.

1^st race [NY, Md Sp Wt, 1 mi TURF] – (7) Amazing Gracer (A) lunged at the start of his debut in June, made a middle move, got to second, hit traffic in the stretch, and finished fifth. (3) Off Script moved from dirt to turf in his second start of the year and rallied from last to second by a half-length. (4) Katie King changes barns to Greg Sacco and switches from dirt to turf after a good debut. Blinkers go on. (1) Sassetti had three turf starts since May and ran well enough to contend in this field.

3^rd race [NY, Alw 95000 N1X, 6 ½ F] – (6) Man in Finance makes his first start in 2025, was a debut winner by almost eight lengths in November and then was fourth in a NY-bred stakes race. (3) Leo’s Reward ran the best race of his career last month when he moved from a stalking position to get the lead and then missed the win by a nose. (2) Chief Liam was a maiden winner at Oaklawn Park in January and that race was between two excusable efforts on a muddy and sealed track and the other in an allowance where something went wrong in February. (7) Crescendo’s Rein was a front-end debut winner at Saratoga on a sloppy and sealed track.

6^th race [Alw 110000 N1X, 6 ½ F] – (1) Fort Nelson made his second start in July following a seven month layoff and used a stalking trip to win at 2-1. (5) Voila Magic returns from a February layoff. He was a winner at first asking beating a large field at Keeneland by almost six lengths and then ran against Louisiana-breds and got a few top three finishes in stakes. (4) Filoso won a maiden at the Spa last summer and then was third in the Breeders’ Futurity. He comes back following a layoff after the Tampa Derby (G3) with blinkers off and first-time Lasix. (6) Gardiner had two wins and a second this year with two at Churchill and one in a New York starter allowance.

9^th race [Alw 110000 N1X, 6F] – (8) Senza Parole (A) was an impressive debut winner for Chad Brown. He broke alertly, got taken back, moved outside and drew off to win by almost eight-lengths over an odds-on favorite. (1) Paula’s a Star broke her maiden at Aqueduct in February and then was third in the Jimmy Winkfield. Last seen she was second in a July allowance at the Spa. (9) Roswell was a debut winner at Gulfstream in January 2024 who went on to run second four times in allowances. (7) Sarir has six top three finishes at this allowance level.

Best bets: Man in Finance (3^rd); Fort Nelson (6^th). Best value: Amazing Gracer (1^st); Senza Parole (9^th).