By all accounts, Runninsonofagun is an improving horse coming into the Grade 3, $175,000 Fall Highweight Handicap on Saturday at Aqueduct. “He’s in prime time,” jockey Kendrick Carmouche said. Runninsonofagun is the probable favorite in the Fall Highweight, which is one of three stakes on a 10-race card that starts at 11:50 a.m. Eastern. The six-furlong race for 3-year-olds and up shares a card with the Grade 2, $300,000 Red Smith and the $120,000 Central Park. Runninsonofagun is the lone 3-year-old in the Fall Highweight, and he’s co-highweighted alongside Factor It In at 132 pounds. The field of seven also includes stakes winners Greeley and Ben and Jaxon Traveler. Runninsonofagun became a stakes winner last out, when he won the Grade 3 Bold Ruler on Oct. 29 at Aqueduct. He was a nose winner in his first start against older rivals and earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 97. “He’s getting better and better,” trainer John Toscano Jr. said. “He’s a young horse, a late foal, and he’s getting better every race.” Carmouche, who has regularly ridden Runninsonofagun, was impressed with the horse’s Bold Ruler performance. “He was very gutsy last time,” he said. “He made the lead at the top of the lane, goofed off a little, was hooked late at the sixteenth pole, and fought back and won the race. I think he’s really getting better.” :: DRF Black Friday Sale: Save 20% on DRF PPs, Clocker Reports, and other handicapping essentials Since that start, Runninsonofagun has worked a bullet half-mile on the training track at Belmont, going in 48 seconds. The move was the fastest of 126 at the distance the morning of Nov. 19. “I worked him and he worked like an unbelievable horse,” Carmouche said. “He came back happy and bucking and kicking and that’s all the good things with horses that are improving.” On paper, Runninsonofagun is appealing for his company lines. He was third to Jack Christopher in the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial in August at Saratoga. One start prior, Runninsonofagun was third to Gunite in Saratoga’s Grade 2 Amsterdam. Runninsonofagun is a son of Gun Runner who races for the Estate of Scott Zimmerman. He will break from post 7 in the Fall Highweight. “The horse likes to break and sit,” Carmouche said. “He’s one of those horses that if you want him to be closer, he’ll be closer. He takes the dirt pretty good. He feeds off it. Not every horse likes dirt in their face. He runs into it.” Runninsonofagun might get an ideal pace setup behind the rail-drawn Greeley and Ben, who is weighted at 130, Jaxon Traveler, 131, and Bezos, 123. “He’s got to carry a lot of weight,” Toscano said of Runninsonofagun, who will spot his rivals between one and nine pounds Saturday. Factor It In, who will be doing the same, also would benefit if the pace is honest in the Fall Highweight. He closed for third in the Bold Ruler, one start after winning the Challedon from off the pace Oct. 1 at Laurel. Irad Ortiz Jr. has the mount from post 6 for trainer Carlos Mancilla. Greeley and Ben, who was fourth in the Bold Ruler, has since won a $10,000 starter allowance at Aqueduct. The multiple stakes winner went 11 for 15 in 2021 to rank as one of that year’s winningest horses in North America. So far this year, he’s 6 for 11. Manny Franco has the mount from the rail for trainer Faith Wilson. Jaxon Traveler won the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint in May. Synthesis and Happy Farm finished one-two in a two-other-than allowance last out at Aqueduct. Bezos is looking for his third straight win in a streak that includes a $50,000 starter-allowance win last out at Aqueduct. The card’s stakes action starts in the fifth race with the Central Park for 2-year-olds at a mile on the outer turf. The field of 10 includes one filly, the supplemental entry Sweetlou’sgotaces. She owns the field’s best last-race Beyer Speed Figure, an 85 for a runner-up finish in a maiden special weight sprint on turf last out at Aqueduct. Sweetlou’sgotaces is cross-entered in the $120,000 Tepin that runs Sunday at Aqueduct. Dandy Handyman will get good support in the Central Park off a runner-up finish in the $120,000 Awad on Oct. 29 at Aqueduct. He set the pace to the late stages in the 1 1/16-mile turf race and was beaten just three-quarters of a length. Dandy Handyman came into the race off a debut win in a maiden special weight at a mile on turf at Colonial. Jose Lezcano has the mount from post 7 for Maram LLC and trainer Keri Brion. Let’s Go Big Blue and Noble Huntsman also come out of the Awad. Bat Flip is making his stakes debut after winning his maiden Oct. 23 at Aqueduct. He led throughout in the maiden special weight at 1 1/16 miles on turf and earned a Beyer of 81. Jose Ortiz has the mount from post 2 for trainer Todd Pletcher. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.