Share the Ride removing bar shoe for Toboggan Stakes

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Share the Ride, claimed for $16,000 last summer, seeks his third stakes win – second graded – when he tops a competitive field of five entered in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Toboggan Stakes at Aqueduct.

Owner Silvino Ramirez and trainer Antonio Arriaga claimed Share the Ride for $16,000 on July 5 at Monmouth Park. Since then, Share the Ride has three wins and three seconds and has earned $220,000. Among those victories was a three-quarter-length score over Stan the Man in the Grade 3 Fall Highweight here on Nov. 29. Stan the Man is back in this seven-furlong race.

Arriaga said Share the Ride got stepped on in the Fall Highweight and sustained what is known as a grabbed quarter. That prevented him from running in the Gravesend here Jan. 2. Share the Ride ran in the Fire Plug Stakes on Jan. 16 at Laurel Park while wearing a bar shoe, and was run down late by Wendell Fong, losing by a neck.

Arriaga thought jockey Jevian Toledo “moved too soon” in the Fire Plug. Saturday, Manny Franco will be aboard Share the Ride from post 3.

Also, Arriaga feels confident enough in how Share the Ride’s foot is doing to remove the bar shoe for the Toboggan.

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“He’s training pretty good, let’s hope they’re racing,” said Arriaga, an acknowledgment that forecasted frigid temperatures forced the cancellation of Aqueduct’s Friday card.

Though Arriaga would prefer to run Share the Ride six furlongs, the gelding does have a win and a head loss to Majestic Dunhill in the Grade 3 Bold Ruler in two starts at the seven-furlong distance.

Share the Ride is 3 for 4 on dirt when running back in two weeks or less. He won the Fall Highweight 11 days after winning an allowance at Parx Racing.

Pete’s Play Call, Stan the Man, and Drafted ran 1-2-3 in the Gravesend, run in the mud going 6 1/2 furlongs here Jan. 2. Pete’s Play Call pressed the pace in the Gravesend, one race after he rallied from off the pace to win a second-level allowance.

“He takes you there and puts you in a good position,” trainer Rudy Rodriguez said. “He’s not a horse that’s rank.”

Pete’s Play Call might have handled the wet surface better than Stan the Man in the Gravesend, said John Terranova, trainer of Stan the Man. The track should be dry on Saturday.

“Pete’s Play Call ran a hell of a race and had a little more speed than us, obviously, and that’s what it took that day,” Terranova said. “Our guy ran good, I thought. The seven furlongs ought to help him.”

A potential pace battle involving Pete’s Play Call, American Power, and Share the Ride also would benefit Stan the Man, who has adopted a closer’s style since Terranova removed the blinkers last summer.

Drafted, making his third start off a layoff after defeats in the Fall Highweight and Gravesend, completes the field.

The Toboggan is carded as the fourth race on a nine-race card that begins at 12:20 p.m.