By Alan Porter
Second-crop sire Toccet
completed a most unusual double at the
weekend when his daughter
La Rocca captured the British Columbia Oaks, and his son Winning Machine
followed-up a day later by taking the British Columbia Derby
(gr. III). Toccet had completed 2008 in twenty-first position on the first-crop
sire table, but his runners have progressed this year, and following the
weekend, he’s vaulted into a position among the top-10 of his sire class.
While his runners have been
generally showing improvement with age, Toccet himself earned most of his fame –
and his purse money – during a stellar juvenile campaign. Bred by his owner
Daniel Borislow (founder of discount long-distance phone service company
Tel-Save (now Talk America), and inventer of the magicJack telecommunications
device), Toccet was named for former Philadelphia Flyers' hockey player Rick
Tocchet, although his name was misspelled on the Jockey Club name
application.
Toccet was quick to
demonstrate his potential, winning a seven-furlong maiden race at Laurel Park by
10 lengths on his second start. After adding an 8 1/2-length triumph in a
Pimlico allowance race, Toccet took his win streak to three when defeating
Icecoldbeeratreds by 1 1/2 lengths in the Champagne Stakes (gr. I). Unplaced
behind Vindication in the
Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (gr. I), Toccet rebounded to end his
juvenile season with campaign reminiscent of the stars of a much earlier era. In
the space of five weeks he captured the Laurel Futurity (gr. III) by 6 1/4
lengths; the Remsen Stakes (gr. II), by 2 1/4 lengths (with Empire Maker back in third); and the Hollywood
Futurity (gr. I), by a head over the subsequently disqualified Kafwain. Prior to
the Hollywood Futurity, Borislow, who was
never reticent when it came to promoting Toccet’s abilities, gained a degree of
notoriety by taking out a full page advert in the Daily Racing Form
challenging Padua Stables, the owner of Vindication, to run against Toccet to
decide the year’s champion 2-year-old honors.
The stresses of Toccet’s
2-year-old season may have come at a price, as remodeling to a right hind cannon
bone sent him to the sidelines for most of his 3-year-old career. He reappeared
in mid-August in the Widener Stakes at Philadelphia Park – a race written
specifically for him as a prep for the Pennsylvania Derby (gr. III) – and
tallied by a very comfortable half-length as a 1-10 shot. Two weeks later he
returned in the Derby, but failed to handle a sloppy track, and finished off the
board. The rest of Toccet’s sophomore year resembled the end of his juvenile
season in one respect: it was very busy. Unfortunately, it was also far less
successful. Starting October 4, when he finished off the board in the Goodwood
Breeders’ Cup Handicap (gr. II), and finishing December 26, when he wound up
eleventh in the Malibu Stakes (gr. I), Toccet ran five times. His other races
were the John Deere Breeders’ Cup Turf (gr. IT), in which he finished a distant
eighth; the Hail Emperor Stakes, in which he missed by a nose; and the Cigar
Mile (gr. I), where he finished third. Toccet did start his 4-year-old season
with a good second in the San Fernando Breeders’ Cup Stakes (gr. II), but
subsequently it appeared that the efforts asked of him early in his career had
taken their toll. He started seven more times, but only once, when second in an
Allowance/Optional Claiming event at Saratoga, did he make the frame.
In November 2004, Toccet was
offered at Fasig-Tipton’s Kentucky fall mixed sale, and realized $3,350,000, the
winning bidder being Castleton Lyons Farm. Retired at an advertised fee of
$12,500, Toccet proved so popular at the start of his stud career that his
asking price was bumped up to $15,000 in a matter of days.
Despite his exploits as a
juvenile, Toccet did not have the pedigree of a precocious 2-year-old. His sire, Awesome Again, was unraced at 2, and although he won
the Queen’s Plate and Jim Dandy Stakes (gr. II) at 3, it was during his
undefeated 4-year-old season – which culminated in a win in one of the most
strongly-contested renewals of the Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I) – that he
really came into himself. Although he has sired Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Wilko, Awesome Again’s offspring have tended
to improve with age.
Toccet’s dam, the
stakes-placed Cozzene’s Angel, is by another later-maturing runner, the champion
turf horse Cozzene. Toccet comes from a relatively unheralded branch of a family
that traces to Frizette (best know as ancestress of Tourbillon (FR), Djeddah,
and more recently Seattle Slew and Mr. Prospector), with second and third dams
by Bold Ruler-line stallion Trepan (FR) and Don (ITY) (by Grey Sovereign (GB)).
Toccet’s fourth dam, Charming Friend (FR), has a rather interesting pedigree as
both her sire and her dam go back to Frizette’s daughter Princess Palatine.
Founder of a branch of the family whose descendents also include Ferdinand,
Elusive Quality, and Artie Schiller, Princess Palatine appears 6 x 5 in Charming
Friend’s pedigree.
Last year, 44 of Toccet’s
first crop made it to the races, with 15 of them winning. He wasn’t represented
by a 2-year-old stakes winner, but as his pedigree suggests his offspring have
improved with age. Toccet now has 47 individual first-crop scorers, and La Rocca
and Winning Machine are joined as stakes winners by Awesome Rhythm and Toccet to
Me. Also in the crop are six stakes-placed horses including graded-placed
Gretsky and Dubinsky. Toccet also has a 2009 juvenile stakes winner Toccet’s
Charm, who captured the Jamestown Stakes at the end of July.
La Rocca was a $32,000
Fasig-Tipton Kentucky select yearling, but realized $310,000 when resold at the
Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s selected sale of 2-year-olds in training. She
didn’t break her maiden until her fourth start, which came in a seven-furlong
contest on Keeneland’s all-weather surface in April, although she’d earlier been
second in the Darley Ocala Breeders’ Sale Championship Stakes. After her maiden
win, she took second in the Little Silver Stakes, fourth in the Perfect Sting
Stakes, and second in a Woodbine allowance. She broke through on her most recent
outing prior to the British Columbia Oaks with a win in the Sonoma Handicap at
Northlands Park.
While La Rocca was running
stakes competition as early as her second outing, Winning Machine made a more
humble beginning to his career. Three of his first four starts came in maiden
claiming contests at Emerald Downs. After fairly modest showings in his first
few efforts, Winning Machine suddenly came to life when entered to be claimed
for $12,500, leading throughout to win by 9 3/4 lengths in 1:09.8. After this
victory, Winning Machine ended the year with fourths in the WTBA Lads Stakes and
a sprint allowance, and a third in the Gottstein Futurity. This year he has won
four of his six starts, with additional stakes wins coming in the Tacoma
Handicap and Emerald Downs Derby.
La Rocca (TrueNicks rated
A++) is the second winner for her dam, Perfect Wave, a daughter of Boston
Harbor who won twice in four starts.
Winning Machine (TrueNicks
rated A) is also the second winner for his dam, Dance With Carson, a
juvenile scorer by Carson City.
Sharp-eyed readers will have
noted that Carson City appears as Winning Machine’s damsire and as second
damsire of La Rocca. It’s not particularly surprising to see Carson City working
here, as Toccet’s sire, Awesome Again, is by a son of Vice Regent (by Northern
Dancer) out of a mare by Blushing Groom (FR), with a second dam by Mr.
Prospector. Carson City is a Mr. Prospector/Blushing Groom cross with a second
dam by a son of Northern Dancer, and the dams of both Winnning Machine and La
Rocca also reinforce the Northern Dancer. Of course Awesome Again and Carson
City respectively sired two their most important runners, Ghostzapper and City Zip, out of the same mare, indicating
similar affinities. On the basis of that evidence, one would also have to think
that Ghostzapper will be well-suited by Carson City mares.
Copyright Blood-Horse Publications. Reprinted with permission of Copyright Owner.
