Daniel M. Borislow's Toccet fooled everyone, making it look like work while toying with his rivals and winning as his rider pleased in the $100,000 Laurel Futurity (gr. III).
Jockey Jorge Chavez kept the Awesome Again colt racing inside horses throughout the mile and a sixteenth test. Pressed and pressured by longshot Ironton to the top of the lane, Toccet slipped away and galloped home an easy 6-1/4 length winner in 1:46.1. He paid $3.60.
Jockey Chavez said, "I was waiting for my time. At the top of the stretch I let him go a little bit and he galloped away by himself. It was a nice, easy win. This is a nice type of horse to have when you only have to run one type of race. Now we know this horse loves the slop, too. This will definitely be a Derby-type horse."
Toccet is a winner of four of six starts including the Champagne (gr. I). He had a wide, eventful trip in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and made amends with this convincing score. John Scanlan is his trainer.
Scanlan said, "He did fine. He's been training really well and it's been muddy lately and he showed me that he likes it in the morning, so I just assumed he'd like it in the afternoon."
Makin Heat Takes Top Honors In Selima Michael Gill's Makin Heat won her second straight stakes today, beating a nice band of 2-year-old fillies in the $100,000 Selima Stakes.
The Makin filly won a Virginia-bred only stakes race (The Hidene) at Delaware Park just a week ago. She proved to be more than a restricted-type wonder as she demolished a field of open company rivals by a romping 2-3/4 lengths. Mark Johnston got her home in 1:47.84 for the 1 1/16 mile. She paid $16.
Owner Gill claimed Makin Heat for $35,000 out of her maiden win at Delaware in September and turned her over to trainer John Robb.
Robb said, "The horse came out of the Delaware race bouncing, so I told Mike if he wanted to come right back we'd be ready. The Delaware competition was like a workout, but these horses were pretty tough. We'll see how she comes out of this race and she'll probably go to Gulfstream with Mark Shuman."
(Chart,
Equibase)
