We wanted to stain the top
but I didn’t think filling this gouge with wood putty and then staining would look very good. My husband offered to use his router to take off an inch of the wood all the way around so it could keep its lovely curve but get rid of the flaw. Thankfully the top overhung the dresser by a bit so there was enough room to take an inch off and still have a small overhang. I took him up on that and a few minutes later we had a lovely top, free of damage!
Here she is all sanded down and ready for paint.