Star three-year-old Toorak Toff has made a full recovery from a bout of travel sickness and will return to Rick Hore-Lacy’s Caulfield stables at the end of the week.
Hore-Lacy remains hopeful the flashy chestnut can regain his best form in the major sprints in the spring after he was forced to abandon a planned Queensland winter campaign.
Toorak Toff was retired last year after he was diagnosed with breathing problems but after negotiations with studs and a successful throat operation, his racing career was resurrected.
His comeback run after six months off the scene was in last month’s Group One Goodwood (1200m) but he finished second last of the 18 runners.
Hore-Lacy blamed track bias and the long break between runs for the failure but on returning to Melbourne Toorak Toff was struck down with travel sickness.
“He had excuses in the Goodwood and when we got him back to Melbourne he was sick for a long time,” Hore-Lacy said.
“He got a bit of rattle in one side of his lung and we just couldn’t get him over it so we eventually bit the bullet and turned him out.
Hore-Lacy said a veterinary report last week gave Toorak Toff the all-clear to go back into work.
“We had the vet go out and look at him and he listened to his chest, did a chest x-ray, and passed him perfectly sound on all counts,” Hore-Lacy said.
Hore-Lacy is convinced Toorak Toff no longer has any breathing problems and is looking forward to the horse’s return to the track as early as mid-August.
“We are hoping he can win a good race in the spring,” Hore-Lacy said.
He said Toorak Toff would be primarily aimed at weight-for-age races up to 1600 metres but the Group One Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m) under handicap conditions at Caulfield in September was also high on the list.
“He would get a bit of weight in that race but it would be all right for him,” Hore-Lacy said.
A winner of five of his 12 starts and just over a $1 million in prizemoney, Toorak Toff’s biggest success was in the Group One Golden Rose (1400m) at Rosehill last August.
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