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.

2^nd race [NY, OC 45k/N2X, 7F] – (1) Stone Smuggler comes back from a December layoff when she won a NY Stallion Series Stakes at Aqueduct. (5) Army Gal won her first two starts as a 2-year-old and since had a pair of seconds and a pair of fourths in allowance races. (4) Embraceable Gal hit the board three times since winning the first-level allowance in April. (2) Mitole’s Girl won the first-level NY-bred allowance in April and will step up here for the first time since.       

3^rd race [Md 20000, 6F] – (3) Chocolatechocolate set the pace in all three races this year resulting in a top three finish in all of them. (4) Stirred Up hit the board in all four starts in 2025 in maiden claimers for Linda Rice and blinkers go on. (2) Laughing Lady will drop in for a tag for the first time which is a 29% winning move for the barn. (6) Sunset Sizzle was fifth in her debut in May at Delaware Park in a maiden special weight and ships up from Monmouth Park.

5^th race [Md 100000, 6F] – (6) Fiddling Felix (C) dropped in for a tag for the first time, got bet down from 3-1 to 8-5, finished second, and got claimed for $20,000. (5) White Whale ships up from Kentucky where he ran well in a series of maiden special weights and moves back to the main track which seems to be his best surface. (7) Discotheque had four second-place finishes in a row racing on dirt and artificial surfaces after trying the turf last time. (2) Noguchi debuted last month on the grass at Aqueduct and ran fourth at 5-1 for Chad Brown.

8^th race [NY, Johnstone Handicap, 7F] – (4) Caldwell Luvs Gold is a past NY-bred stakes winner who rarely runs a bad race and moves back to a preferred distance. (8) Sterling Silver had the lead and missed by a neck last time and cuts back in distance to seven furlongs where she won four times. (6) Landed won 3 NY-bred stakes in her last 5 starts with perfect records at Saratoga and at this distance and having never run worse than third. (2) Dolomite also has a perfect record with 10 top three finishes. Last seen she won both allowance conditions against open company.

Best bets: Stone Smuggler (2^nd); Chocolatechocolate (3^rd). Best value: Fiddling Felix (5^th); Caldwell Luvs Gold (8^th).

No.	Name	Letter/ last race	Today's Race	Comments
(6)	Fiddling Felix	C on 7/17	5	Dropped in for a tag for the first time and got claimed.
(11)	Keto Drink	B on 7/10	6	First on the Also Eligible List.