Thursday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: Celestial Body should benefit from debut experience

Aqueduct | Race 9 | Post Time 4:43 p.m. (ET)

Hot Gossip (#8) will obviously be a handful in this maiden optional claiming race if she runs as well as she did in her New York debut last time out. She was in for the $75,000 tag that day and again is risked for the claiming price here, which is hardly a negative given that she was claimed for $50,000 by these connections back in November. The chief concern for her is the slight cutback in distance to seven furlongs, since she has been targeted at routes since the second start of her career and seemed to blossom over those longer distances. She's the one to beat, but I didn't want to just default to a short price on her now that her form is totally exposed.

Kay Road (#4) should find this seven-furlong distance to her liking after facing a wide trip going a mile two back. She rebounded at a shorter trip last time, earning a speed figure that puts her within range of the favorite. Beau Hill (#9) finished another 10 lengths back in fifth in that same Jan. 23 race, but she might have some upside in the second start of her career. She got off slowly and launched a decent rally on the far turn before flattening out late.

I prefer another second-time starter as my top pick. Celestial Body (#5) launched her career in a New York-bred maiden special weight event last December. She got dismissed at 100-1 by the bettors and certainly outran those odds to get up for fourth. However, she ran even better than that finish suggests. The track was playing to speed on Dec. 13, so she deserves some credit for passing rivals in the lane. She also had to overcome adversity in the first half of the race, getting away a step slowly and then getting shuffled out of position down the backstretch when trying to advance between horses. She's been given time to develop since then, and I'm expecting a better performance as she returns for her second start.