The on again off again racing career of Toorak Toff seems to be on again after trainer Rick Hore-Lacy confirmed that the horse would return to his Caulfield stables after recovering from a bout of travel sickness.
Toorak Toff is back in work after being retired late last year.
Toorak Toff was retired in December last year after he was comprehensively beaten in a 1000m race at Flemington by Éclair Mystic. At the time the horse was found to be suffering from severe breathing problems.
Connections of the horse had planned to send the three year old son of Show a Heart to stud, but a successful throat operation has paved the way for his return to racing.
Doubts about the future of Toorak Toff were again raised after he finished a second last in the Goodwood Handicap in Adelaide in May, however Hore-Lacy believes his horse was disadvantaged by the Morphettville track bias that day.
There were plans to run Toorak Toff during the Brisbane winter carnival, but travel sickness put an end to that.
“He had excuses in the Goodwood and when he got back from Melbourne he was sick for a long time,” Hore-Lacy said.
“He got a bit of a rattle in one side of his lung and when we got him back to Melbourne he was sick for a long time.”
However following the setbacks Hore-Lacy confirmed that Toorak Toff had been given the all clear by vets to resume work.
“We had the vet go out and look at him and he listened to his chest, did an x-ray, and passed him perfect on all counts.”
Hore-Lacy confirmed that Toorak Toff would be set mostly for weight for age races during the Victorian spring, although he nominated the Group One Rupert Clarke Stakes as a race high on his agenda.
“He would get a bit of weight in that race but it would be all right for him.”
Toorak Toff’s biggest race wins came in the listed Vain Stakes at Caulfield and the Group One Golden Rose at Rosehill. In his Roses win he beat home horses such as Squamosa, Hinchinbrook, Decision Time, Ilovethiscity and Crystal Lily, all of whom have gone onto bigger and better things.
Toorak Toff has won five of his 12 career starts, collecting over $1 million in prize money in the process.
