OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Handicappers will have to take another look at Friday’s $150,000 Toboggan Stakes at Aqueduct as the race lost one of its major players and may have picked up a significant newcomer. Maximus Meridius, last year’s Toboggan winner and the 7-2 morning-line third choice for this year’s running when it was originally scheduled for last Saturday, opted for a Wednesday allowance race at Parx and will scratch from the Toboggan. Meanwhile, the New York-bred Doc Sullivan showed up in the entries for the re-drawn race, though his status is not yet finalized. The other five original entrants – led by Victory Way – are back in the Toboggan, though with different post positions. The Toboggan, as well as the Withers, Ladies, and Ruthless, were all brought back for Friday after being canceled last Saturday, when that day’s card was lost due to extreme cold. The Interborough, rescheduled from Jan. 24, is also on Friday’s 11-race card that begins at 11:45 a.m. Doc Sullivan, a New York-bred son of Solomini, has won two straight restricted stakes, both around one turn. He is being considered for both this race and the $135,000 Say Florida Sandy Stakes for New York-breds scheduled for Feb. 14. Trainer John Ortiz said the delay by six days, and how well Doc Sullivan seems to be doing, made the Toboggan a realistic goal. Ortiz would like to see some moisture in the track and, if long-range forecasts are worth anything, he is more likely to get that on Feb. 14 than on Friday. “We’re not tossing the Say Florida Sandy out,” Ortiz said. “The horse is doing incredibly well, just happy with the way he looks, the way he’s been acting. When they’re giving you all the green lights, you just go with it.” Doc Sullivan is saddled with the rail, but would get the services of Ricardo Santana Jr., who is in town from Oaklawn to ride here on Friday. Santana was aboard for Doc Sullivan’s one-length victory in the Alex M. Robb Stakes on Dec. 26. Victory Way, trained by Bill Mott, ran down the speedy Vettriano to win a second-level allowance race on Dec. 11. That race was at six furlongs. His lone win at seven furlongs came in his career debut, March 4, 2023, over a muddy main track here. Over and Ollie has mixed form but his last performance, a win in a stakes-level allowance on Dec. 27, would make him tough in here. He loses Flavien Prat – who is at Oaklawn – while picking up Ruben Silvera. Light the Way, claimed for $100,000 by Mike Maker on Jan. 11, won a seven-furlong allowance here on Dec. 4. Be You got placed first when his stablemate Donegal Surges interfered with him in a Dec. 27 allowance going one mile. Nation won his last two starts on dirt – one at Keeneland, one at Churchill – and comes in off a runner-up finish in an allowance over Turfway Park’s synthetic surface. Interborough The additional two weeks from when the $135,000 Interborough Stakes was originally scheduled to Friday’s rescheduled date of the seven-furlong race for fillies and mares should only benefit the favorite, Lucille Ball. The lightly raced daughter of Lord Nelson on Jan. 2 came off a 14-month layoff to win an allowance race by 10 1/4 lengths, earning a 103 Beyer Speed Figure. Had the Interborough been Jan. 24 as scheduled, it would have meant a quick turnaround for the 4-year-old filly who had two knee surgeries during the 14 months between starts.“I wasn’t crazy about running her back in three weeks,” trainer Chris Englehart said. “With the issues she’s had, we didn’t want to be breezing her a lot to run her six weeks out in the Barbara Fritchie [Feb. 14 at Laurel].” Lucille Ball was able to get in one workout, a half-mile in 50.20 seconds over the Belmont Park training track on Jan. 30. “I wasn’t down there for the breeze but my assistant said she was fine breezing, galloped out, didn’t drink an excessive amount of water afterwards,” Englehart said. “I’m thinking she’s probably going to be okay that way, but you never know coming off a race like that.” There does not appear to be a lot of speed to run early with Lucille Ball, who did win her return race on the front end. She did come from off the pace when winning her debut in November 2024. Stonewall Star does possess speed, but she has not been breaking great from the gate lately. Just Katherine, third behind Weigh the Risks and Scalable in the Go for Wand, Sultry Lass, and Ourdaydreaminggirl complete the Interborough field. Her Laugh will scratch and point to a different race, trainer Riley Mott said. Ladies Weigh the Risks has beaten Scalable in two straight stakes contested around one turn. The two meet again in Friday’s $135,000 Ladies Stakes as both 5-year-old mares try to show their connections if they can be effective going two turns and at 1 1/8 miles. Weigh the Risks, trained by Chad Brown, has won five of six starts on fast dirt tracks, all at seven furlongs or one mile. Weigh the Risks did win her maiden going two turns on turf in the summer of 2023. “She just seems very comfortable when you allow her to be forward,” Brown said last week. “She’s a high cruising speed horse, and I don’t anticipate the extra distance being a problem.” Scalable won the Interborough last year at seven furlongs but she has also won twice around two turns. Facing a horse like Weigh the Risks going two turns could give owner Mike Repole and trainer Todd Pletcher an idea if she can be competitive in better races going long. “We’re wanting to go the mile and an eighth, because if she ran well I think that would sway Mike to keep her in training,” Pletcher said. “If she proves she can’t handle a mile and an eighth then that kind of limits [running in] some of the real big races down the road.” Bernietakescharge defeated Weigh the Risks in the Heavenly Prize in February 2025. She has won a pair of New York-bred stakes since, including the Bay Ridge on Dec. 28 in her last start. Ruthless Shilling, the Tempted Stakes winner going a mile in November, and Two Bits, a well-beaten second in the Busanda on Jan. 3, head a field of seven 3-year-old fillies in the $135,000 Ruthless going seven furlongs. Shilling, who finished fourth in the Grade 2 Demoiselle to the uber-talented Zany, missed an intended start in the Busanda due to a puncture wound. Her work tab – including a bullet half-mile in 46.20 seconds from the gate on Jan. 22 – indicates she’s over that. Shilling did well at the re-draw, moving to the outside post after initially drawing post 4. Two Bits won a one-mile maiden race on Nov. 29, a race from which the second- and third-place finishers came back to run one-two in a maiden race. Meanwhile, in the Busanda, Two Bits ran into a buzzsaw named Dazzling Dame, who won for the fourth time in five starts. – additional reporting by Marcus Hersh