Toast to swerve Epsom

Posted by: Ray Pilares in Sports May 28, 2014 368 Views

Toast Of New York: Set to miss Derby in favour of trip to Belmont.

Toast Of New York is set to go on his travels again after trainer Jamie Osborne and owner Michael Buckley decided against a run in next week’s Investec Derby.

The son of Thewayyourare was added to the Epsom field at a cost of £8,000 last month following his UAE Derby victory at Meydan in March but the recent spell of wet weather has forced a change of plan.

Osborne has now set his sights on the Belmont Derby Invitational at the New York track on July 5 as he believes the Grade One event represents a much better opportunity for Toast Of New York.

He said: “We have ruled out Epsom. We took the decision this morning to give it a miss in favour of going to Belmont on July 5.

“There was always a bit of a doubt at the back of our minds about him getting a mile and a half at this stage of his career and we felt his best chance of staying was if the ground was quite quick. However, that looks highly unlikely now.

“There is a race at Belmont over a mile and a quarter on the turf that is worth 1.25million dollars and we don’t really want to waste a run in a race where we would be a 25-1 outsider. We want to point at targets which he has a real chance of winning.

“The Derby can be a bit of a graveyard for some horses and I don’t want to end up there with him.

“It has been a tough decision for Michael Buckley and myself. To have a runner in the Derby would be a dream, but we don’t want to just have runners, we want to have winners in the big races.

“If we look after him and campaign him sensibly, there’s no reason why he couldn’t turn into a top-class globe-trotting runner next year. He could potentially be one of the top international money-earners if we look after him.

“Horses like him don’t come along often.”

Osborne will now prep his charge for the American feature, with a possible trip to Arlington for the 10-furlong Secretariat Stakes on August 16 also an option.

“When we went to Meydan, we flew out the week before so we would probably do something like that again and run straight off the plane, so to speak,” said Osborne.

“Whether or not we stay in America for the Secretariat at Arlington the following month, we will have to see.

“He could come home again in that time but we’ll see how we go from Belmont before we make those kind of decisions.”

Osborne set up a camera in Toast Of New York’s box in recent days to keep a close eye on his star performer and his ‘Toastcam’ has proved popular, with the colt gaining plenty of fans on social media.

The Berkshire handler said: “He’s got quite a following now.

“He’s sort of got his own fanclub and it’s nice to think that people are with us along the journey.”