New Look, Familiar Result for Toccet

The jockey’s silks might have been forgotten in the trainer’s car in Maryland, but the horse didn’t forget how to find the finish line as Toccet fought back in the stretch Saturday to win the $409,500 Hollywood Futurity by a head over Kafwain.

Wearing green-and-white silks with Hollywood Park lettering on his back, Jorge Chavez showed why he is one of the strongest finishers in the game with his ride of Toccet.

Kafwain, the 13-10 favorite off his win in the Norfolk and second-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, put a head in front of Toccet for a couple of strides in midstretch before Chavez roused his colt and regained the lead for good.

Toccet and Kafwain will be among the early favorites for next year’s Kentucky Derby, but in the Eclipse Awards voting for best 2-year-old male they’ll take a backseat to Vindication, Kafwain’s stablemate, who topped off an undefeated campaign with a convincing win in the Breeders’ Cup.

Owner Daniel Borislow and trainer John Scanlan had dismissed Toccet’s ninth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup because the colt drew the outside post position in a 13-horse field. Scanlan suggested they scratch from the Arlington Park race, but Borislow insisted on running.

Since then, Toccet won three consecutive stakes races in Maryland and New York preceding Saturday’s conquest. For the year, the son of Awesome Again and Cozzene’s Angel has won six of eight starts, including four stakes wins at 1 1/16 miles or farther. Saturday’s purse of $243,900 increased his earnings to $755,610.

“The only 2-year-old I’ve ever seen that was better than mine was Spectacular Bid [in 1978],” said Borislow, who was 38 when he retired from the Internet business in 1999 with a billion-dollar nest egg. “This horse deserves the respect that he’s never gotten. I don’t know of a 2-year-old out there who’s better suited to run a mile and a quarter [the Derby distance].”

If there was a downside to Borislow’s trip to California, it was the disqualification of Kafwain from second place to fourth after he and jockey Victor Espinoza came over on Coax Kid as they made their late run at the top of the stretch. Borislow, known to bet with both hands, wagered $5,000 to win on his horse, who paid $5.20 for $2, but missed out on a $5,000 exacta on Toccet and Kafwain. The official order of finish among the runners-up was Domestic Dispute, Coax Kid, Kafwain, Roll Hennessy Roll and Logician.

Toccet, a misspelling of his namesake, retired NHL star and former King Rick Tocchet, ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:41 1/5, three-fifths of a second off the stakes record, as he became the first Eastern-based horse to win the Futurity since Stephan’s Odyssey in 1984. The winner ran close behind the pace-setting Roll Hennessy Roll before taking the lead leaving the final turn.

“He was slipping on the track a little bit, but he was still fighting,” Chavez said. “It was amazing. He didn’t like the track, and he still won like that. He’s got such a big heart.”

As they say along the backstretch, Toccet doesn’t have to carry his racetrack with him. Two of his wins came at Laurel Park, where Scanlan is based, and he had also won at Pimlico, Belmont Park and Aqueduct before arriving at Hollywood on Thursday night. Scanlan said that this wasn’t the first time he and Borislow had won a race after the trainer had forgotten the owner’s silks.

The same thing happened with Dinner In Rio, a $50,000 claim who won the Seneca Handicap at Saratoga in 1994.

Borislow said that Toccet’s next race might be at 1 1/8 miles on the grass, which would be way for a Derby contender to begin a 3-year-old campaign.

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