Be You notches first stakes score in Listed $150K Toboggan
Repole Stable’s Grade 1-placed Be You tracked off the early speed and ran down Victory Way and Light the Way in the stretch, while pulling away from the favored Doc Sullivan in the final sixteenth to capture Friday’s Listed $150,000 Toboggan for older horses sprinting seven furlongs at Aqueduct Racetrack.
The 133rd edition of the Toboggan, which counts Hall of Famer Bold Ruler [1958] among its long list of winners, was originally scheduled for last Saturday before the card was canceled due to extreme cold. Under sunny-but-cold conditions, Be You, under rider Kendrick Carmouche, stayed off the pace as Victory Way and Light the Way dueled at the front, with the opening quarter-mile in 22.89 seconds and the half in 45.73 over the fast track.
Carmouche urged Be You out of the turn and capitalized on daylight to the outside, showing a strong closing kick to overtake the pacesetters before hitting the wire in 1:23.50 with a 1 3/4-length margin of victory. Doc Sullivan, the 3-2 favorite, rallied from last-of-six from the far outside to earn runner-up status under jockey Ricardo Santana, Jr.
Victory Way bested Light the Way by 1 3/4-lengths for third, with Nation and Over and Ollie completing the order of finish. Maximus Meridius was scratched after the connections opted for a Wednesday allowance race at Parx, where he finished fourth.
Be You, trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, returned to stakes company for the first time since a sixth-place effort in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens as a sophomore in June 2024 at Saratoga Race Course. After sandwiching allowance wins at Keeneland and Aqueduct around a second-place finish in an optional-claimer, also at the Big A, the 5-year-old gelding garnered his first stakes score in five attempts, registering his best effort since a third-place performance in the 2023 Grade 1 American Pharoah at Santa Anita.
“We have kind of established that he might be best sprinting and coming from behind, or at least at shorter distances,” said Stu Hampson, assistant to Pletcher. “The way the racetrack has been playing is totally out of our control, but the horse seemed like he was doing well and really came into his own in the last couple of weeks.
“We looked at it [the race], and there was definitely some pace signed on and they set some honest fractions,” Hampson added. “As soon as he broke running, it looked like Kendrick was trying to put him in the race and when he was inside of horses, you could tell he was definitely going to be a bit closer than he had in some of his previous starts. It looked like he was going good, and coming around the turn it looked like he had plenty of horse, it was just going to be whether he was going to go up the rail or try to go around them.”
Off at 5-2, Be You returned $7.16 on a $2 win wager. Bred in Kentucky by Alpha Delta Stables, the son of Hall of Famer Curlin improved his career earnings to $355,120.
“I wanted to break him real sharp to put him in the race a little bit, instead of having him in the back door,” Carmouche said. “I wanted to get inside. The rail is the best place to be. Once I tipped him out at the quarter-pole, he was ready to rock and roll. After that, he did it all from there. Horse ran a really good race. Tough group, but he made it.”
Added Hampson: “Unbelievable ride by Kendrick, and the horse showed up, too. We’re delighted by it. He’s a horse that’s always had a lot of ability and maybe just underachieved a bit at times. For him to come out and get a stakes win is huge.”
Tristar Farm’s New York-bred Doc Sullivan, who had won two consecutive restricted stakes going around one turn for trainer John Ortiz, including the Alex M. Robb in December at the Big A, has finished first or second in four consecutive stakes races. Bred by Seamus Coughlan, Doc Sullivan is 7-7-2 in 21 career starts.
“We started good, but we were just second best,” said Santana, Jr.
Live racing is canceled on Saturday and Sunday at Aqueduct Racetrack due to arctic temperatures and extremely low wind chill values forecast to impact the New York metropolitan area throughout the weekend. Aqueduct Racetrack will remain open for simulcast operations on Saturday and Sunday.
Live racing resumes Wednesday at the Big A with a nine-race card. First post is 12:40 p.m. Eastern.
America's Day at the Races presents live coverage and analysis of every day of the Aqueduct Racetrack winter meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule.
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