Runninsonofagun looks to add a Gravesend win to solid fall campaign

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – That Runninsonofagun ran second in the Fall Highweight Stakes last month was hardly a disappointing result considering he got involved in a contentious speed duel and was run down by the odds-on favorite in the race. That Runninsonofagun was participating in the Fall Highweight at all was somewhat miraculous.

Two weeks before the Fall Highweight, following a morning workout at Belmont Park, Runninsonofagun dumped his exercise rider and ran off the track, skidded and fell on the road. He suffered cuts to his hock, elbow, knee, and hind end.

“We were lucky he’s still alive,” trainer John Toscano Jr. said. “We got lucky it scabbed up and we were able to run.”

With the Fall Highweight performance under his belt and no mishaps in the month in between, Runninsonofagun hopes to go one spot better in Saturday’s $150,000 Gravesend Stakes at Aqueduct. The Gravesend, at six furlongs, tops a nine-race card that includes the $100,000 Alex M. Robb Stakes for New York-breds going one mile.

Runninsonofagun won the Grade 3 Bold Ruler in 2022 and was elevated to first by the stewards in this year’s Bold Ruler when the stewards deemed that My Buddy B, who crossed the wire a nose in front of Runninsonofagun, was guilty of interference. That was the best effort Runninsonofagun had given since missing 13 months after having a chip removed from the top of his sesamoid.

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Overall, Runninsonofagun’s last three efforts, all with the addition of glue-on shoes, were reminiscent of the good run he had in the fall of 2022 when he won or placed in four consecutive graded stakes.

Toscano said Runninsonofagun has been training well since the Fall Highweight, evidenced by a half-mile workout in 47.03 seconds, the third-fastest of 170 half-mile works over Belmont Park’s training track on Dec. 20.

The biggest concern to Toscano is the fact Runninsonofagun is the 126-pound highweight and will be spotting two to eight pounds to the field.

In the Fall Highweight, Runninsonofagun showed speed he had not previously displayed. Saturday, he figures to be stalking Toxic Gray, who has a second and a win in his last two starts, both when he set the pace.

“He fell out of there on the lead and [Jose] Lezcano took advantage of it the one day and then he came back and made the lead pretty easy,” trainer Mike Miceli said. “Earlier in his career, when he won, he came from off the pace. I don’t think he’s strictly one dimensional but it appears from his last two races that that’s a good spot for him to be.”

Maximus Meridius, the lone 3-year-old in the field, is cross-entered in Tuesday’s $75,000 Blitzen Stakes at Parx. On Thursday, trainer Butch Reid Jr. was undecided on where his horse would run in part due to the inability to train at Parx due to frozen track conditions.

Top Gunner and Twenty Four Mamba finished third and fifth, respectively, in the Fall Highweight.

Full Moon Madness has won both of his starts this year, though they came 11 months apart. Tivy, a well-beaten second to Toxic Gray in a Nov. 16 allowance, completes the field.

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