Aqueduct: Dr Disco prepping for bigger game

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Bruce Brown is targeting next month’s Grade 3 Toboggan Stakes for his speedy New York-bred sprinter Dr Disco. While there are two overnight stakes on Jan. 8 for which Dr Disco would be eligible, Brown found what he hopes is a better spot in a $66,000 open-company third-level allowance race that serves as Monday’s feature at Aqueduct.

The six-furlong race, which also carries an optional claiming tag of $75,000 for which three horses are eligible, drew a stakes-caliber field that includes fellow New York-bred Driven by Success and Flat Bold. The stakes winner Starforaday is also entered, but he just ran – and won – Friday. David Jacobson, who claimed Starforaday for $35,000 on Friday, said the 9-year-old is “50-50” to run.

Given Dr Disco’s speed and his affinity for the inner track – he is 4-for-5 with a second – Brown is hoping the horse can be a significant player in the $150,000 Toboggan on Feb. 4 and $200,000 Tom Fool on March 3.

Dr Disco recorded his first stakes victory on Dec. 4 when he went gate to wire to win the $60,000 Vodka Stakes for statebreds by one length. Brown said the horse has continued to train forwardly.

“He’s been training great, just really came out of that race very good,” said Brown, who trains Dr Disco for owner-breeder Joseph DiRico. “He gets hot sometimes and it definitely helps with the cooler weather.”

Dr Disco, who breaks from post 3 under Mike Luzzi, is strictly a one-dimensional speedball and may have to deal with some early pace pressure from Driven by Success, who cuts back to six furlongs after finishing last in the Adirondack Holme Stakes at a mile on Nov. 20. Driven by Success is being offered for the $75,000 tag.

Flat Bold is also in for the $75,000 tag, the price for which a group led by Michael Dubb claimed him in August. In three starts for Dubb, his partners, and trainer Rudy Rodriguez, Flat Bold has two thirds and a fifth. Most recently, he finished third, beaten two lengths in the Grade 3 Fall Highweight on Nov. 24.

“He’s run a couple of races but he doesn’t like to win,” Rodriguez said. “We’re not in this to finish second and third.”

Ramon Dominguez rides Flat Bold from post 4.

Litigation Risk races six furlongs for the first time since he finished second in his career debut as a 2-year-old in 2009. He is 3 for 3 at seven furlongs. Litigation Risk has not run since finishing last in the Pot O Luck Stakes at Belmont on Sept. 15.