Ah Day under the wire in the Toboggan

Ah Day came out of the clouds to neck out another Laurel invader Eternal Star and win the 116th running of the Toboggan on Saturday at Aqueduct. There were other horses I liked better going into the gate - namely the pt favorite Driven For Success. But there were a few things that stood out in the 6 year-old geldings Ah Day's PPs. I liked his 5F work going 58/4 at Laurel on Feb 19. In general I think 5 F works are a strong conditioning/handicapping angle for sprinters, especially going at that rate of speed.

Ah Day had also been off since his unsuccessful August 08 try at Monmouth, but this is a lightly raced horse. He has been to the gate only 4 times since the Feb 07 edition of the General George. The point being he has fired well coming off of long layoffs and he ran a huge race last time he visited the Big A, finishing 2 3/4 back in 3rd to Silver Wagon and 3/4 back of 2nd place Diabolical in the 07 Carter. There were things to like here but not enough for straight win bet. Instead my voucher was spread around boxing Driven For Success and Contessa's West Coast Flier in multiple losing gimmicks. But I liked enough about Ah Day to include him in the pick 3 ending with I Want Revenge. Which made it a sort of break even Ah Day for me.