Stallwalkin’ Dude Faces Familiar Foes in Toboggan

Head of Plains Partners and David Jacobson's Stallwalkin' Dude will line up against familiar sprinters in the six-furlong Toboggan Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct Racetrack Jan. 16.

The 7-year-old City Place gelding enters off a win in the Dec. 18 Gravesend Stakes, also at six furlongs on the inner track, where he defeated fellow Toboggan entrant Green Gratto by two lengths. All Star Red and Life in Shambles, also entered in the Toboggan, finished third and fourth, respectively. 

BLOODHORSE STAFF: Stallwalkin' Dude Scores in Gravesend

Two starts back Stallwalkin' Dude was narrowly denied his second graded stakes victory when longshot Heaven's Runaway rallied late in the Nov. 24 Fall Highweight Handicap (G3) to win by a neck.

Stallwalkin' Dude, who has won 17 of his 48 starts and has earned more than $1 million, got his first graded victory of his career in the seven-furlong Bold Ruler Handicap (G3) in October at Belmont Park. He has two wins and two seconds in his past four starts, all at six furlongs on New York tracks. With Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard, the Florida-bred will carry the high weight on Monday of 123 pounds and will break from post 6. 

Gaston and Anthony Grant's Green Gratto will try to get the best of Stallwalkin' Dude after failing to do so in his past four starts. The 7-year-old grade 3 winner comes off a second in the Gravesend, a fourth in the Fall Highweight, and a fifth in the Bold Ruler. His most recent win was the six-furlong Hockessin Stakes at Delaware Park in July. He will carry 118 pounds and will break from the rail. 

Paradise Farm Corp.'s Life In Shambles is stepping up into graded stakes company for the first time. Before his fourth-place effort in the Gravesend, the 6-year-old son of Broken Vow   barely held on to win as the favorite in a six-furlong allowance race Nov. 23 at Aqueduct, where fellow Toboggan runner Classy Class ran third. 

Also entered in the field are stakes winners The Great War, who was fifth in the Fall Highweight last time out, and Story to Tell, who enters off a Dec. 16 starter allowance win and a Nov. 23 claminig win both at six furlongs at Aqueduct.