Borislow Hopes Pattern Goes On

One in a series of reports about the Breeders’ Cup on Oct. 25 at Santa Anita.

Daniel Borislow, the outspoken -- sometimes outrageous -- owner of Toccet, last year’s Hollywood Futurity winner, gave himself a recent Breeders’ Cup history lesson.

Borislow researched the results of the 1993 races at Santa Anita, where the Breeders’ Cup returns next month. The pattern for most of the winners all but jumps off the page. Five of them -- Hollywood Wildcat, Cardmania, Brocco and Phone Chatter on dirt, and Kotashaan on grass -- had prep races at Santa Anita a month or less before the Breeders’ Cup.

The only exceptions on Breeders’ Cup day were Arcangues, the implausible longshot from France who delivered a 133-1 shocker in the Classic, and the redoubtable Lure, the colt who won the Mile for the second consecutive year.

With this in mind, Borislow and his trainer, John Scanlan, have brought Toccet to California early, well ahead of most of the shippers who’ll run on racing’s eight-race, $14-million day.

Getting the jump on Hurricane Isabel, Toccet left Maryland on Wednesday and worked six furlongs in 1:13 at Santa Anita on Saturday.

Julie Krone, who’s never ridden the colt in a race, will be aboard Oct. 4 in the Goodwood Handicap, Toccet’s last prep for the $4-million Breeders’ Cup Classic three weeks later.

The Breeders’ Cup’s richest race -- one that frequently determines horse-of-the-year honors -- officially lost Candy Ride on Monday, when trainer Ron McAnally decided not to run, but it should still be well stocked.

The field is expected to include Mineshaft and Empire Maker, who’ll do some early sparring in Saturday’s $1-million Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park, plus Medaglia d’Oro, winner of the Strub Stakes at Santa Anita in February, and Congaree, whose only loss in five Santa Anita starts was a second-place finish in this year’s Santa Anita Handicap.

“It will take nothing but my colt’s best to win the Breeders’ Cup,” Scanlan said. “He’s going to have a lot of time to acclimate to the weather, and so far he’s doing super. He likes this racetrack.”

When Toccet came out for the Hollywood Futurity in December, he didn’t arrive until a couple of days before the race.

“There are only two ways to do it,” Scanlan said. “You either go in early, or you get there on top of the race. Anything in between is a mistake.”

Borislow, whose Internet business had grown to $1.5 billion when he retired at 38 in 1999, is prone to chest-thumping. He took out a full-page advertisement in the Daily Racing Form, challenging Satish Sanan to change his plans and run the undefeated Vindication in the Hollywood Futurity.

Borislow also proposed a side bet, his $200,000 to Sanan’s $100,000, but the owner of Vindication, who had already locked up the Eclipse Award for best 2-year-old, didn’t bite.

Two months before the Hollywood Park race, Vindication won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Arlington Park and Toccet finished ninth. Toccet drew the outside post in a 13-horse field, and Borislow and Scanlan said later that they regretted not scratching their colt.

Toccet finished with victories in the Remsen and the Hollywood Futurity. But Toccet had painful ankle problems, had to undergo a lengthy bone-remodeling program at a farm in Kentucky and missed the Triple Crown.

The horse rejoined Scanlan’s barn at Laurel Park on July 1. In his first race back, on Aug. 19, he won a minor stake at Philadelphia Park in preparation for the Pennsylvania Derby, less than two weeks later. Then, on a sloppy track, Toccet finished fifth as Grand Hombre, a 29-1 shot, won the $750,000 race.

“We made a mistake,” Scanlan said. “The prep was too close to the Pennsylvania Derby. The horse needed more time to be at his best.”

At Barn 66 at Santa Anita, Toccet is the only horse in Scanlan’s care. He has 25 others at Laurel, none of them Breeders’ Cup caliber.

Toccet, whose regular rider until now, Jorge Chavez, has stakes commitments at Belmont on Oct. 4, will have one more pre-Goodwood workout with Krone, probably Saturday.

“The last time there was a Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita, the horses that ran here won here,” Scanlan said. “We’re hoping the same thing plays out this time.”

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It would have cost Sid and Jenny Craig, the owners of Candy Ride, $800,000 to make him eligible for the Classic.

When the Craigs bought the Argentine-bred Candy Ride early this year for $900,000, his previous owner had not nominated the horse or his sire to the Breeders’ Cup program.

“The horse has been in constant training for three years,” trainer Ron McAnally said. “Besides that, he’s not eligible, so it just made good sense to wait until next year.

“There’s no question that the Craigs would have put the money up if I asked them to. It was solely my decision, but we’ll have a fresh horse for next year.”

Only four horses -- Adoration, Elloluv, Got Koko and Tropical Blossom -- may challenge Azeri in the $300,000 Lady’s Secret Handicap when the Oak Tree meet opens Sunday at Santa Anita.

Weights for the stake, which Azeri won last year, are to be announced today. Azeri carried 127 pounds Aug. 10, when she stretched her winning streak to 11 in the Clement Hirsch Handicap at Del Mar.