Jay Em Ess Stable's talented Happy Medium will make his stakes debut in Saturday's re-scheduled 129th running of the Grade 3, $150,000 Toboggan, a seven-furlong sprint for older horses, to kick off graded stakes action in 2022 on the NYRA circuit at Aqueduct Racetrack.
The Toboggan was initially scheduled for last Saturday's card which was cancelled due to the impact of a powerful winter storm in the New York City metropolitan area. Five of the original seven Toboggan contenders have returned with defectors including Chateau and Penguin Power, who finished sixth in last Saturday's Fire Plug at Laurel Park.
Trained by Michelle Nevin, the three-time winning Happy Medium seeks his fourth straight trip to the winner's circle having captured his trio of wins by a combined 21 1/4-lengths.
The 4-year-old son of Runhappy arrives off a triumph in a second-level allowance optional claimer on Dec. 18 at the Big A, defeating next-out winner Wudda U Think Now and stakes-winner Chestertown. Happy Medium led at every point of call last out while extending his advantage throughout the 6 1/2-furlong journey, registering a career-best 104 Beyer Speed Figure for the seven-length romp.
After bursting onto the scene in September at Belmont Park with a maiden special weight victory over four next-out winners by 9 1/4-lengths, Happy Medium handled a sloppy and sealed track with style when defeating winners by five lengths in November at Aqueduct.
“He's a very nice horse and we just have taken the logical steps to go along with him. We've gone from his maiden, a-other-than and two-other-than.” Nevin said. “This step is the next logical one, so we're excited to see him run.”
Happy Medium's maiden score came off a six-month respite. He finished third at 22-1 odds in his career debut in March 2021 at Aqueduct.
“He was a little immature from two into his 3-year-old year and we just wanted to give him some time to develop,” Nevin said.
Happy Medium, bred in Kentucky by Colts Neck Stables, is out of the Coronado's Quest mare Well Spring, who also produced Mendip – a multiple group stakes winner in Dubai. Happy Medium's second dam, Chaposa Springs, captured the 1995 Grade 1 Test and 1996 Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga Race Course.
Manny Franco, aboard Happy Medium for all three of his victories, will return to the irons from the outermost post 5. Happy Medium will carry 120 pounds.
Returning to the Big A by way of Parx Racing is Hopeful Treasure, who sprung an 18-1 upset in the six-furlong Grade 3 Fall Highweight last out on November 28. The 5-year-old bay son of Oxbow provided trainer Michael Catalano, Jr. with his first graded stakes victory, fending off a late challenge by graded stakes winner Green Light Go to win by a head.
Owned by Tony Como's Just In Time Racing, Hopeful Treasure was bought for $6,000 by his original trainer Michael Pino, who conditioned the horse through three wins in his first eight career starts.
Transferred to Catalano, Jr., Hopeful Treasure picked up three more victories including a 1 3/4-length allowance score at Parx four weeks prior to the Fall Highweight.
“We thought about running in a stake at Parx at the end of the year and it just seemed like he wasn't back to where he was mentally,” Catalano, Jr. said. “He started to hit his stride in early January and has been just doing better and better each day since then. He's ready to run right now and hopefully he'll show up at one of these places and run really well again.”
Trevor McCarthy, a two-time stakes-winning rider this meet, picks up the mount from post 4 aboard Hopeful Treasure, who was assigned a field high 124 pounds.
Rounding out the field are War Tocsin [post 1, Silvestre Gonzalez], Repo Rocks [post 2, Ruben Silvera] and Drafted [post 3, Jose Ortiz].
The Toboggan is slated as Race 3 while the Withers will go as Race 8 on Saturday's nine-race card. First post is 12:50 p.m. Eastern.
America's Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the winter meet at Aqueduct Racetrack on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/
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