Toast Of New York is back on track with Lingfield challenge
Colt makes return after an absence of 1,130 days Osborne has big plans for UAE Derby winner
When Toast Of New York split Bayern and California Chrome in a three-way photo-finish for the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita it was a case of so near and yet so far for trainer Jamie Osborne, who came within a nose of achieving something not even Aidan O’brien has managed yet.
Today, 1,130 days later, an ownership change, tendon injury and stud career in Qatar behind him, Toast Of New York returns to the racecourse in the Betway Conditions Stakes at Lingfield and the sixyear-old is already showing the Lambourn trainer enough at home to have him dreaming of the big time again.
But how do you begin to get a horse fit which has not run for so long? When Al Shaqab, which bought the horse following the Breeders’ Cup, decided that there were not enough mares in Doha to keep Toast Of New York occupied and another go at racing might be worth a try, his first port of call was Longholes Stud pre-training centre in Newmarket.
He rejoined Osborne in March and now, nine months later, he is finally ready to rumble.
“As a rule of thumb after a normal break it takes roughly 100 days to get a horse race fit,” explained Osborne who has taken patience to a new level. “It has taken 250 days to get him to the same stage. If you don’t put the foundation work in place it is more likely to fail so he’s done thousands of miles and we’ve had no interruptions. It’s only in the last month of work that you really begin to know where you are. All the work he was doing before that was conditioning.
“We feel we’re ready, we’ve left no stone unturned in getting him ready and this was the softest start we could find for him.
“There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with his appetite for it and you would like what you’ve seen in a couple of racecourse gallops. He was rated 124 in the Breeders’ Cup and he probably needs to be running to 108 to win at Lingfield. I’d be disappointed if he didn’t win but I’ve been disappointed before and I’m sure I’ll be disappointed again. It may be that he gets there and thinks he prefers his previous life in Doha.”
There are several directions the outcome of today’s race could take Toast Of New York. The dreamer in Osborne, what he imagines when he lies in bed awake at night, is that he could go to the Pegasus, the world’s richest race, in January, the Dubai World Cup in March, and next year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Alternatively he could hang around for the Lingfield Winter Derby, but whatever route he takes Osborne is delighted to have his old friend back. “For us, as a yard and a family, when he left we thought we had seen the last of him,” reflected the trainer. “We’re very happy to have had him back for nine months which we never expected. Who knows what will happen?”