Even if the New York Racing Association goes forth with Saturday’s program at Aqueduct, the defending champion in the seven-furlong Toboggan Stakes might not be going to this year’s renewal. Maximus Meridius, who won the 2025 Toboggan by a neck, is among six entrants in the $150,000 Toboggan, but to run in the $150,000 race, he must ship very early Saturday morning from trainer Butch Reid’s base at Parx Racing in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. Reid guesses the 100-mile journey would begin at about 4 a.m., when the temperature’s forecast to be about 4 degrees. “I don’t know what we’re going to do,” Reid said. Maximus Meridius, in his 22nd career start, would be breaking from the rail for the sixth time, but that did not stop him from capturing last year’s Toboggan. In the four sprints in which he drew post 1, Maximus Meridius has turned in nothing but good performances. The 5-year-old gelding broke slowly in his last two starts, both relatively minor Parx stakes, but still won the $75,000 Blitzen by almost four lengths on Dec. 31 after zooming to the lead following a slow start from the rail. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. “It was only a half-beat slow, and [jockey Mychel] Sanchez has really gotten to know this horse,” Reid said. “The horse has really become more consistent than he was a year ago, and I think, again, it’s part of Sanchez getting to know him and his idiosyncrasies.” Maximus Meridius’s main pace rival, Light the Way, possesses speed more like a miler than a sprinter, and he might or might not prove capable of keeping up. But a pace duel would work well for Be You, who returns to stakes competition for the first time since June 2024. In October, Be You came back from a 16-month layoff with a smart Keeneland allowance win over seven furlongs. While he ran even better in his next start, he ran into Knightsbridge, who looked like a true Grade 1 miler easily landing the Grade 3 Fred Hooper last weekend. Be You cleared his second allowance condition Dec. 27, finishing second but placed first after stewards disqualified his Todd Pletcher-trained stablemate, Donegal Surges, for herding out and then brushing Be You in deep stretch. Flavien Prat rode Be You in that race, but he gives way to Kendrick Carmouche in the Toboggan while landing on Over and Ollie, a supremely in-and-out performer who had one of his good days Dec. 27 winning a high-level Aqueduct allowance. Victory Way, a lightly raced 6-year-old, can contend if he runs back to a sharp second-level allowance victory Dec. 7. Ladies The $150,000 Ladies already has been rescheduled once, and it might have to be rescheduled again, but as long as Weigh the Risks keeps showing up in the entries, she’ll be an odds-on favorite. Weigh the Risks is one of eight older fillies and mares entered in the two-turn, 1 1/8-mile race. After making six of her first seven starts on turf, 5-year-old Weigh the Risks, by Mendelssohn, has become a tiger on dirt, winning 6 of 7 by almost 30 combined lengths. “I was confused about her early on,” trainer Chad Brown said. “I saw Mendelssohn, and I’ve had some good horses by him. I knew she was a good-training horse, and I sort of was split on the surface. She ended up on dirt, and she’s found a home there.” :: Get the Inside Track with the FREE DRF Morning Line Email Newsletter. Subscribe now.  Weigh the Risks has raced around one turn in all her recent dirt tries, but Brown’s not concerned about the Saturday stretch-out. “She just seems very comfortable when you allow her to be forward,” he said. “She’s a high cruising-speed horse, and I don’t anticipate the extra distance being a problem.” The only horse to defeat Weigh the Risks since her move to dirt, Bernietakescharge, also starts in the Ladies, drawn on the rail as the favorite’s main pace rival. If Bernietakescharge does the dirty work of softening up Weigh the Risks, she can’t win, but a late-running horse like Ourdaydreaminggirl, who nearly captured the Grade 1 Cotillion late last summer, could post an upset. Ruthless Shilling and Two Bits head a field of seven 3-year-old fillies entered in the $135,000 Ruthless over seven furlongs. Both horses cut back in distance, Shilling moving from the two-turn Demoiselle at 1 1/8 miles into an extended sprint that might better suit her. What definitely will suit her is not having to face the exceedingly talented Zany, who won the Dec. 6 Demoiselle by 8 1/2 lengths. Trainer Kenny McPeek had to scratch Shilling from the Jan. 3 Busanda after Shilling suffered a puncture wound. While Shilling stayed in her stall, Two Bits ran second in the Busanda, beaten more than 11 lengths by Dazzling Dame, but she was also more than 11 lengths in front of the third-place finisher. The cutback from one mile to seven furlongs should aid Two Bits, who really seemed to find herself in a Nov. 29 maiden score. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.