Toro Dorado resting up after his win
Toro Dorado has left us scratching our heads more often than not over the past 12 months (and has been called a name or two at the same time), but we finally got his head in front at Wolverhampton yesterday afternoon under a terrific ride from Oisin Murphy.
Toro Dorado broke reasonably from the stalls but had to be chased along into the first turn to maintain his position. Eventually they settled into a decent midfield position in seventh or eighth place, travelling nicely on the bridle. Oisin had commented that he felt he went to soon on Toro Dorado when riding him previously at Epsom, but made no such mistake on this occasion. Moving stealthily into contention rounding the home turn, Toro Dorado hit the front inside the final furlong and held off the strong challenge of Stormbomber by a neck under hands and heels urging from his rider.
It was a triumph for perseverance, as we had not thought that Toro Dorado would be waiting until the end of the July of his three-year-old season to chalk up his first success – in maiden handicap company! He has always shown a bit more at home than on track, and having finished second in a Kempton nursery last autumn it looked as though he would develop into a useful three-year-old handicapper.
The transition from two to three was not altogether smooth, however, and since the start of this year we have been fiddling about with his trip, surface, headgear and run style - searching for that winning formula. A return to form at Newcastle two runs prior suggested he was on the way back, and he followed that up with a fair performance around Epsom. A more conventional track and the AW surface clearly aided him yesterday, and he got the job done in pleasing fashion. It was perhaps key that Oisin did not hit him with the stick, as he is a mercurial sort of horse that probably prefers gentle persuasion rather than firm handling.
Toro is now stringing together a series of good runs and putting his all into his races. A big well done to the horse first and foremost, and let’s hope that he has not finished winning just yet.
We send our warmest congratulations to all the owners who are involved with Toro Dorado, some of whom were on track to savour yesterday’s glorious result. A big thank you must also go to Scott and Csongor who travelled him to Wolverhampton yesterday and all the staff in the yard who are keeping the show on the road in this very warm weather.