Columnist Ralph Siraco: Toccet seeking match race with Baffert’s Vindication

Ralph Siraco

Monday, Dec. 9, 2002 | 10:12 a.m.

Ralph Siraco's horse racing column appears Monday and his Southern California selections run Tuesday-Sunday.

The essence of horse racing traces back to a simple basic. "My horse can beat your horse."

With wall-to-wall racing seasons, racing series that can cover several months and the year-end Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships, one wonders if anyone remembers that concept.

In the spirit of that basic premise, it was with pleasant surprise that Sunday's edition of The Daily Racing Form announced a three-page challenge from one horse owner to another. The industry publication accepted an ad by horse owner Dan Borislow on behalf of his star juvenile Toccet to challenge division leader Vindication and his owner, Satish K. Sanan's Padua Stables, in a head-to-head matchup.

The "Owner Challenge" consists of Borislow wagering $200,000 against Sanan's $100,000 that Toccet will beat Vindication in the upcoming Hollywood Futurity set at the Southern California track for Saturday, Dec. 21. The Grade I event carries an added purse value of $200,000 at 1 1/16th miles.

The challenge is a last ditch attempt by Borislow to sway the year-end Eclipse Award for his son of Awesome Again. And, to that end, his "Voters' Challenge" asks that Eclipse voters wait until after the Hollywood Futurity to cast their ballots for juvenile champion.

Typically, the winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile gets the majority of votes and takes the Eclipse Award. And, therein lies the rub for Borislow.

His Toccet finished ninth -- beaten 16 lengths-- by Vindication in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Arlington Park Oct. 26.

In the ad, Borislow explains that there was not a winner who broke from outside post number six on Breeders' Cup day. Toccet left from the outside post 13. He elaborates that no 2-year-old had ever won from post 13 in 1 1/8th mile races -- the distance of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile race -- at Arlington Park.

However, he fails to divulge that there have been few other races at that distance for two-year-olds run at the track.

He says he and his partner, John Scanlon, have made it a policy not to duck any challenges. And he believes horse racing needs a true champion "for the ages." (Hmmm, I thought that was filled by Secretariat.)

Now, while Toccet's owners may be getting a little carried away with their talented runner, he has managed to amass an impressive resume. Since Aug. 16, when Toccet won a maiden race at Laurel Park by 10 lengths in his second career start, his only other loss has come in the Breeders' Cup appearance.

After a daylight allowance victory at Pimlico in September, Toccet won the prestigious Grade I Champagne at Belmont Park in early October. After his Breeders' Cup bust, Toccet returned to win the Grade III Laurel Futurity and the recent Grade II Remsen at Aqueduct in November. As Borislow's ad states, Toccet has won four Graded stakes at route distances which, he says, no other 2-year-old has ever done.

Vindication, has never been beaten in four career starts dating to his debut maiden win at Del Mar in late July. The son of 1977 Triple Crown winner and Horse Of The Year Seattle Slew won another sprint race at the seaside before an incredible victory at Turfway Park in the Kentucky Cup Juvenile.

Racing out of state and at a route distance for the first time, Vindication broke "in the air" at the start of that race, avoided a riderless horse and circled his rivals as though they had turned to stone to win with authority by a half-dozen lengths. That 1 1/16th mile Grade III event set him up for his record run in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile to end the year -- presumably with the title.

While Borislow can't be criticized for backing his horse, his challenge may have been issued in vain.

Trainer Bob Baffert indicated just after Vindication won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile that his promising runner was due a rest. Baffert, who knows what it takes to get a juvenile-turned-sophomore ready for a run at the Kentucky Derby and a possible Triple Crown attempt, has nothing to prove and the same to gain by bringing Vindication back for the challenge.

If Toccet wins the Hollywood Futurity without his owner's challenge realized, thus missing the Eclipse Award possibility, then his Vindication may have to wait until the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs.