Toboggan Stakes 2024 | Aqueduct Picks

Sanford Goldfarb, Alan Kahn, David Tanzman and Steven Speranza’s stakes-placed Kinetic Sky will cut back in search of his first stakes victory in Saturday’s Grade 3, $175,000 Toboggan Stakes, a seven-furlong sprint for older horses, at Aqueduct Racetrack.

The Toboggan is slated as Race 8 on Saturday’s 10-race card which also features the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes, a 20-10-6-4-2 Kentucky Derby qualifier, in Race 9. First post is 11:50 a.m. Eastern.

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Trained by Rick Dutrow, Jr., Kinetic Sky was last seen finishing a close third in the nine-furlong Queens County on December 31 here at Aqueduct, where he raced on just three days’ rest after scoring by a nose in a local one-mile optional claimer on December 28.

In the Queens County, Kinetic Sky kept close to the pace under returning rider Jose Lezcano in second position through the first three points of call before taking a narrow advantage at the top of the stretch. He kept on gamely down the lane, but was caught late by the oncoming Crupi and Quality Chic, who finished a neck and nose ahead of him, respectively.

“He’s been doing good for a while now; real good,” said Dutrow, Jr. “The opportunity was there to run him back and we had nothing to lose. We were very, very happy with the way it turned out. He ran a huge race and stayed there as long as he could. We’re proud of him every single day.”

The 6-year-old Runhappy horse was haltered by his connections for $62,500 out of an even fourth-place effort in April here at Aqueduct before netting his career-best and a field-best 99 Beyer Speed Figure for a game runner-up effort at first asking for Dutrow, Jr. in a one-mile third-level optional claimer in June at Belmont Park.

Kinetic Sky has made five starts at Aqueduct since, finishing second to Grade 1-placed Ny Traffic in a 6 1/2-furlong sprint in September two starts before back-to-back wins in November and December.

“I think a whole lot has to do with the kinds of horses he faces these days,” said Dutrow, Jr. “We’ve all seen he’s versatile and finished second going six and a half [furlongs] for us. He can get most distances, so I think it all adds up to who he is in against.”

Kinetic Sky worked a half-mile in 48.30 seconds Wednesday over the Belmont Park dirt training track, his third breeze since the Queens County.

“He’s on it, man,” said Dutrow, Jr. “He’s happy and we’ll just see if this is the smart thing to do with him. We’ll see how he does.”

Lezcano has the call from post 7.

Lea Farms’ dual graded stakes-placed Super Chow seeks a return to the winner’s circle on the heels of six consecutive on-the-board efforts in allowance and stakes company for trainer Jorge Delgado.

The 4-year-old Lord Nelson colt, who was a close second in the Grade 3 Swale last year, was last seen finishing a narrowly-beaten second in a second-level optional claiming event in December at Gulfstream Park where he stalked and pounced under Jose Ortiz to come up a neck shy of the victorious Loco Abarrio. He earned a career-best 96 Beyer for the effort.

Super Chow’s last win came in the six-furlong Hutcheson in March at Gulfstream, but the talented dark bay finished second or third in five stakes since, including a close third at the Toboggan distance in June in Gulfstream’s Carry Back, defeated just three-quarter lengths by Lightning Tones.

Super Chow first flashed his talents in his juvenile campaign, which included a win on debut in wire-to-wire fashion and was completed with a pair of six-furlong stakes triumphs in the Bowman Mill at Keeneland and Inaugural at Tampa Bay Downs.

All but one of Super Chow’s six victories have come when able to make the early lead and dictate terms throughout, including his five-length romp in the Bowman Mill.

Madison Olver, who rode Super Chow to three stakes placings last year at Monmouth Park and Belmont at Aqueduct, has the call from post 5.

Susan Moulton’s graded stakes-winner Manny Wah [post 3, Dylan Davis], who is cross-entered in Saturday’s Forego at Turfway Park, could make his first appearance in the Empire State in career start 43 as he makes his second outing for conditioner Will Walden.

The Will Take Charge horse will look to add a second graded conquest to his resume after taking the Grade 2 Phoenix by a neck over Long Range Toddy in October 2022 when in the care of trainer Wayne Catalano.

The 8-year-old chestnut went on to finish a close fourth in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint ahead of a 2023 campaign that saw his best finish come with a third in the Duncan F. Kenner at Fair Grounds last January.

Manny Wah boasts a lifetime record of 42-5-9-7 with field-best earnings of $920,196. He was a $175,000 purchase at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Select Yearling Sale.

Michael Dubb, The Elkstone Group, Titletown Racing Stables and America’s Pastime Stables’ Murray [post 2, Manny Franco] returns to stakes company for the first time since September 2021 on the heels of a runner-up finish in a one-mile optional claiming effort on New Year’s Eve at Laurel Park.

Trained by Brittany Russell, the 5-year-old Street Sense dark bay began his career with Hall of Famer Bob Baffert and impressed on debut with a 10 3/4-length romp in July 2021 at Del Mar.

Murray followed with a distant off-the-board effort as the favorite in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity and went winless in four more starts for Baffert before joining Russell last summer.

Since the change, he has hit the board in each of his four outings, including two allowance-level wins in September at Pimlico Race Course and November at Laurel.

Murray was purchased for $150,000 by Dubb at the Keeneland Horses of Racing Age Sale in November and is out of the Tiznow mare Now Now, a half-sister to dual graded stakes-winner Listen Here and graded stakes-placed Listen, the dam of multiple graded stakes-winner La Coronel.

Bacon Barn’s three-time winner Skylander [post 6, Jose Gomez] will make his stakes debut for conditioner A. Lands Trites. The 5-year-old Quality Road gelding was haltered last April for $25,000 and has since hit the board in 4-of-6 efforts for his connections.

Those efforts include a four-length score in a one-mile starter allowance in September here at Aqueduct and a last-out runner-up effort to Frat Pack in a seven-furlong allowance in October.

Completing the field are the pair of graded stakes-placed Stage Left [post 4, Isaac Castillo] and four-time winner Divine Armor [post 1, Trevor McCarthy] for owner/trainer David Jacobson.