The veteran sprinter Richter Scale, carrying the top package of 134 pounds as if it were a feather, shot to the lead under Jorge Chavez and led a merry chase to the wire in yesterday’s Grade 2, $100,000 Fall Highweight Handicap at Aqueduct, splashing home 53/4 lengths in front over the sloppy track.

Aristotle rallied for second, outgaming Bought In Dixie for the place. Kashatreya, 2-1 favorite Lake Pontchartrain, Brutally Frank and Diamond completed the order of finish.

Richter Scale ran the six furlongs in a sharp 1:09 and paid $9.10, keying a $30.80 exacta.

“There were a few anxious moments with the track condition,” said Richter Scale’s trainer Mary Jo Lohmeier. “He actually ran well on a wet-fast track in the Met Mile, but that was as a 3-year-old. He hasn’t been on a track like that since.”

Once one of the top dashers in the country, when he won the Carter Handicap at Aqueduct and several other stakes as a 4-year-old, Richter Scale, now 5, had won just two of his last 10 starts. He made it look easy yesterday, setting fractions of :22.3 for the first quarter-mile and :45.3 for the half before drawing clear under little urging down the lane.

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Story appears on p. 69 in the metro edition.