Caulfield trainer Rick Hore-Lacy has confirmed that last year’s Golden Rose winner Toorak Toff would not face off against the likes of Black Caviar and Hay List in the upcoming Doomben 10,000.
Toorak Toff will bypass the Doomben 10,000 and head straight to the Stradbroke Handicap
Running Saturday week, the $650,000 Group 1 Doomben 10,000 (1350m) will be the hunting ground for Peter Moody’s mighty mare Black Caviar to equal Phar Lap’s 14 consecutive race wins record, but Show A Heart colt Toorak Toff will not be among the game rivals looking to stop her.
“We’ve decided against running him in the Doomben 10,000,” Hore-Lacy said.
Opting to bypass almost certain defeat in the 10,000, Hore-Lacy now plans to head straight to the $1 million Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) with Toorak Toff next month.
“The big flat track (at Eagle Farm) will suit him better,” he said.
“And at least one of them won’t be there.”
The ‘ones’ Hore-Lacy refers to are star sprinters Black Caviar and Hay List.
Moody confirmed Black Caviar would not be accepted for the Stradbroke after her hefty top-weight allocation of 60.5kg.
It is also looking less likely that Gosford-based trainer John McNair will continue on with Hay List after the Doomben 10,000 clash Saturday week, and that the five-year-old will be sent for a spell ahead of the spring along with Black Caviar.
“That’s what we’d be hoping,” Hore-Lacy said of the possible omission of both Black Caviar and Hay List from the Straddie.
Toorak Toff was rated a $21 outsider in the early Doomben 10,000 markets following his disappointing second-last finish in the Group 1 The Goodwood (1200m) at Morphettville earlier this month.
He is also well down the Stradbroke Handicap markets paying $26.
One of the gun two-year-olds of last season, Toorak Toff won the prestigious Golden Rose at Rosehill before running second in the Caulfield Guineas Prelude and then fourth to Anacheeva in the $1 million Caulfield Guineas (1600m) in October.
After one run in the summer, Toorak Toff’s campaign was cut short due to breathing problems and a subsequent throat operation.
Hore-Lacy bought Toorak Toff back on May 8 for The Goodwood but the colt was beaten over 10 lengths by Lone Rock in the Adelaide sprint feature after jumping awkwardly and having to settle well back in the field.
“He simply couldn’t win,” Hore-Lacy said of The Goodwood.
“We drew wide as we always do.”
Hore-Lacy is forgetting The Goodwood run and looking to the future instead.
“I would just say forget he ran,” the trainer said.
“The Stradbroke looks really nice for him.
“It’s a handicap, 1400m, with the big stretches of Eagle Farm.”
The handicap conditions should certainly suit Toorak Toff, who yesterday was allocated 51kg for the feature and sits 16th on the Stradbroke order of entry.
“He appears to be sound,” Hore-Lacy said.
“We should be favoured for the handicap.”
Craig Newitt, aboard for their two most recent runs, is the likely jockey to ride Toorak Toff in the Stradbroke, although this is yet to be confirmed.
“I don’t think we will have trouble getting a rider,” Hore-Lacy said.
Current Stradbroke Handicap odds are lead by in-form three-year-old Sincero, the winner of the Scone Guineas last Saturday sitting at $4.20 ahead of Hay List at $5.50.
Black Caviar has been now removed from the markets and bookmakers including Sportsbet.com.au are offering punters a refund on bets placed on the undefeated queen.
“Ordinarily punters would have done their dough given it’s an ‘all in’ market,” Sportsbet.com.au’s Haydn Lane said.
“But we’re happy to refund our members’ bets on the mighty mare.”
