Joe Labozzetta Photo

Great Stuff lives up to his moniker in stellar Toboggan effort

by Brian Bohl

Bruce Golden Racing's Great Stuff waited a long time to secure his first stakes win but reached the milestone in impressive fashion, surging in the stretch to post a 2 ½-length score in the 125th edition of the Grade 3, $100,000 Toboggan for 4-year-olds and up on Saturday at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Great Stuff, making his 26th career start, sat off the early fractions as 1-2 favorite Takaful and longshot Green Gratto, the defending Toboggan winner, dueled in going an opening quarter-mile in 22.57 seconds and the half in 45.15.

Out of the turn, jockey Dylan Davis guided Great Stuff five-wide in the upper stretch, overtaking Takaful and Green Gratto and drawing clear in the final furlong.

The 6-year-old son of Quality Road had never finished higher than fifth in either of his two previous graded stakes starts but earned a trip to the winner's circle in his third attempt, completing seven furlongs in 1:23.15 on a fast main track for trainer David Jacobson.

"With Takaful and [Green] Gratto up front, my plan was not to get too far out of it and ride the rail as long as I could," Davis said. "Turning for home, he had a lot of momentum and he just was very determined to get it done.

"I wasn't worried about it [going wide into the stretch] because I had saved all the ground the whole turn. I knew the horse before and once I angle him out and get him into the clear, he knows what he's got to do."

Off at 11-1, Great Stuff returned $25.80 on a $2 win bet. He improved his career earnings to $408,902, finishing in the money for the third time in his last five starts, including a pair of victories at the Big A.

"He was training well and doing good, so we thought he'd have a nice shot and thankfully it worked out," said Doug Jacobson, assistant to David Jacobson. "This is his distance, we think he's most effective here and Dylan rode him great. He rated him perfect and knew seven furlongs would hit him right between the eyes. We'll see how he comes out of this race and take our time to decide where to go from here."

Vulcan's Forge, who won against optional claiming company on December 30 after running a disappointing seventh in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile on December 2, went the widest of the six-horse field but still edged Takaful by a half-length for second to start his 5-year-old campaign for trainer Todd Pletcher.

Takaful, the winner of the Grade 1 Vosburgh on September 30, was third in his first appearance since running 10th in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint on November 4 at Del Mar.

Life in Shambles, Summer Revolution and Green Gratto completed the order of finish.