Aqueduct: Interborough,Toboggan Stakes Recaps

Posted On 06 Feb 2026

Just Katherine up in time in $135K Interborough

By Keith McCalmont

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – R.T Racing Stable’s Grade 2-placed Just Katherine arrived in the final strides to pick up her first career stakes win in Friday’s $135,000 Interborough, a seven-furlong sprint for fillies and mares 4-years-old and up, at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Piloted by Sahin Civaci, the 6-year-old Justify bay cut back one furlong from a distant third off a long layoff here last out in the one-mile Listed Go for Wand to secure winning black type for the first time in her 10th attempt.

“Just amazing,” said Al Jimenez, assistant and son of winning trainer Jose Jimenez. “This filly was out for over a year. We had to take our time with her. We had to take the time and have the patience, and just trust her. She is an amazing filly. This is really unbelievable.”

The complexion of the race changed at the start when 1-9 mutuel favorite Lucille Ball, the expected pacesetter, broke inward under Manny Franco from post 2-of-4 and was squeezed back behind rivals with Just Katherine exiting the inside post and Stonewall Star to her outside in post 3.

“She broke bad and the horses on my side squeezed me. After that, she wasn’t the same,” said Franco.

Ourdaydreaminggirl broke alertly from the outermost post but was soon overtaken by Stonewall Star, who marked the opening quarter-mile in 23.29 seconds over the fast main track.

Stonewall Star continued to show the way into the turn while pressured by Ourdaydreaminggirl with Lucille Ball traveling three-wide in third and Just Katherine saving ground in last through a half-mile in 46.02.

Civaci gave Just Katherine her cue through the turn and the bay responded with a smart rail-skimming move to overtake Lucille Ball and Ourdaydreaminggirl, before tipping out in upper stretch to take dead aim at Stonewall Star. Just Katherine, under right-handed encouragement, continued to find more late in the lane and with one last lunge put her nose in front to secure the win in a final time of 1:24.28.

Civaci picked up his second local stakes win, adding to a score in last year’s Busanda with Running Away. He said Just Katherine was game to the wire.

“It was just about [timing] to get in front first. It took a while to get there, but she dug in,” Civaci said. “She gave a lot more and the four [Stonewall Star] kind of fell back a bit and that’s when I kind of got the bob.”

Jimenez credited Civaci for engineering a winning trip.

“That finish was tight. We were a little worried because we saw Sahin try to put her outside, but he managed her incredibly. He was able to put her where she had her best race, honestly,” Jimenez said.

It was four lengths back to Ourdaydreaminggirl in third with the previously undefeated Lucille Ball, who earned a field-best 103 Beyer Speed Figure last out, rounding out the order of finish. Sultry Lass and Her Laugh were scratched.

Jaime Rodriguez said the Horacio De Paz-trained Stonewall Star responded well under pressure.

“She broke good, and I thought the three horse [Lucille Ball] was going to go to the lead, but she broke a little bit bad and I said, ‘you know what, I’m taking this chance to go to the lead,’” Rodriguez said. “She’s comfortable and everything, and once we got from the three-eighths to the quarter pole, I got the six [Ourdaydreaminggirl] to the outside and I said, ‘we’ve got some company to run with her.’ Once the six stopped, she [Stonewall Star] kind of lost interest at the top of the lane. When the one [Just Katherine] came, she went to make another kick and then she just flattened. She ran huge.”

Just Katherine enjoyed a productive 4-year-old campaign at the Big A, finishing a neck second in the seven-furlong Grade 2 Bed o’ Roses before closing out her 2024 campaign with an optional-claiming win that September. She did not return to action until her third-place effort in the Go for Wand on December 13 here while racing from an over one-year layoff.

Just Katherine, out of the Medaglia d’Oro mare Reve Enchante, is a half-sister to Dream It Is, who won the 2017 Grade 3 Schuylerville at Saratoga Race Course.

Bred in Kentucky by Boyd Brooks, Louis Brooks Racing Limited Partnership and Hugh Owen, et al, Just Katherine banked $74,250 in victory while improving her record to 17-5-3-4. She returned $16.76 for a $2 win bet.

The Interborough was originally scheduled for January 24 here.

Live racing is canceled on Saturday and Sunday at Aqueduct Racetrack due to arctic temperatures and extremely low wind chill values forecast to impact the New York metropolitan area throughout the weekend. Aqueduct Racetrack will remain open for simulcast operations on Saturday and Sunday.

Live racing resumes Wednesday at the Big A with a nine-race card. First post is 12:40 p.m. Eastern.

America’s Day at the Races presents live coverage and analysis of every day of the Aqueduct Racetrack winter meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Aqueduct Racetrack, and the best way to bet every race of the winter meet. Available to horse players nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

Be You notches first stakes score in Listed $150K Toboggan

By Brian Bohl

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Repole Stable’s Grade 1-placed Be You tracked off the early speed and ran down Victory Way and Light the Way in the stretch, while pulling away from the favored Doc Sullivan in the final sixteenth to capture Friday’s Listed $150,000 Toboggan for older horses sprinting seven furlongs at Aqueduct Racetrack.

The 133rd edition of the Toboggan, which counts Hall of Famer Bold Ruler [1958] among its long list of winners, was originally scheduled for last Saturday before the card was canceled due to extreme cold. Under sunny-but-cold conditions, Be You, under rider Kendrick Carmouche, stayed off the pace as Victory Way and Light the Way dueled at the front, with the opening quarter-mile in 22.89 seconds and the half in 45.73 over the fast track.

Carmouche urged Be You out of the turn and capitalized on daylight to the outside, showing a strong closing kick to overtake the pacesetters before hitting the wire in 1:23.50 with a 1 3/4-length margin of victory. Doc Sullivan, the 3-2 favorite, rallied from last-of-six from the far outside to earn runner-up status under jockey Ricardo Santana, Jr.

Victory Way bested Light the Way by 1 3/4-lengths for third, with Nation and Over and Ollie completing the order of finish. Maximus Meridius was scratched after the connections opted for a Wednesday allowance race at Parx, where he finished fourth.

Be You, trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, returned to stakes company for the first time since a sixth-place effort in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens as a sophomore in June 2024 at Saratoga Race Course. After sandwiching allowance wins at Keeneland and Aqueduct around a second-place finish in an optional-claimer, also at the Big A, the 5-year-old gelding garnered his first stakes score in five attempts, registering his best effort since a third-place performance in the 2023 Grade 1 American Pharoah at Santa Anita.

“We have kind of established that he might be best sprinting and coming from behind, or at least at shorter distances,” said Stu Hampson, assistant to Pletcher. “The way the racetrack has been playing is totally out of our control, but the horse seemed like he was doing well and really came into his own in the last couple of weeks.

“We looked at it [the race], and there was definitely some pace signed on and they set some honest fractions,” Hampson added. “As soon as he broke running, it looked like Kendrick was trying to put him in the race and when he was inside of horses, you could tell he was definitely going to be a bit closer than he had in some of his previous starts. It looked like he was going good, and coming around the turn it looked like he had plenty of horse, it was just going to be whether he was going to go up the rail or try to go around them.”

Off at 5-2, Be You returned $7.16 on a $2 win wager. Bred in Kentucky by Alpha Delta Stables, the son of Hall of Famer Curlin improved his career earnings to $355,120.

“I wanted to break him real sharp to put him in the race a little bit, instead of having him in the back door,” Carmouche said. “I wanted to get inside. The rail is the best place to be. Once I tipped him out at the quarter-pole, he was ready to rock and roll. After that, he did it all from there. Horse ran a really good race. Tough group, but he made it.”

Added Hampson: “Unbelievable ride by Kendrick, and the horse showed up, too. We’re delighted by it. He’s a horse that’s always had a lot of ability and maybe just underachieved a bit at times. For him to come out and get a stakes win is huge.”

Tristar Farm’s New York-bred Doc Sullivan, who had won two consecutive restricted stakes going around one turn for trainer John Ortiz, including the Alex M. Robb in December at the Big A, has finished first or second in four consecutive stakes races. Bred by Seamus Coughlan, Doc Sullivan is 7-7-2 in 21 career starts.

“We started good, but we were just second best,” said Santana, Jr.

Live racing resumes Wednesday at the Big A with a nine-race card. First post is 12:40 p.m. Eastern.

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