Some call it the inner sanctum, others call it the velodrome, and the sour call it the dog day afternoons of the winter, whatever, Aqueduct “inner strip” action is here and its here to stay for a little over three months.

The big stables have the Christmas presents packed; the suntan lotion applied and are set to hit the road on their way to Gulfstream, which opens January 6. That leaves the best of the rest to duke it out in the grueling Northeast colt.

Inside speed going short and long is the order of the day more often than not. Horses stretching out after showing affinity for getting at least 7 furlongs are destined for success.

It’s always a solid ploy to stick with horses that have done well on the inner in the past and resist the temptation to bet on form other than this unique surface.

Because of the way the weather affects things, one must pay attention not only to a possible bias going into any afternoon of racing, but also during the day itself because a cold snap, freezing rain, or a little snow can change everything in a heartbeat.

One angle to think about if the rains do come, and they will, is that often times if a drying-out track comes into play, the tendency is for the speed to hold on much better.

As far as the pilots are concerned, Ramon Dominquez opened the year dominating his rivals at the Big A and went on to sweep the title at all the New York stops. Depending if he takes his tack to Florida, he will again dominate and if he does shoot for the sunshine, it could open up the leading rider race quite a bit.

Youngster Angel Serpa will have to be watched as he is already getting into some good barns and Chuck Lopez has been excelling at this meet for years.

The guy to watch is David Cohen. Eager for success, he cut his teeth in Southern California, won with 16 of his first 101 starters at the meet since late October, and just may emerge as Da Man when the smoke clears.

The straws that stir the drinks are the trainers and don’t be shocked if Gary Contessa is the one to beat once again. He ran away with the conditioning title last year and he has a few go to moves to watch. He will hit with just under 15% of his stretch out runners and will likely approach 25% with his first off the claim runners. On the other end of the spectrum, think long and hard before backing his turf performers, as he was single digits in that category last year.

The value trainers as far as average winning price will likely run the gambit from David Jacobson, to Enrique Arroyo to Randi Persaud.

Try to isolate and key on horses that have been pointed directly for this niche meeting.

Also try to pay attention to the Beyer Pars. Anything above 75 in those cheap maiden $20,000 claimers is a solid figure and if a mid-grade claimer from $25,000 to $75,000 gets above a 96 figure, that runner will likely be able to string together wins.

Bundle up, get that coffee on the stove, roll out the pens and the Form and hunker down to ward off the chill.