Toast of New York Gives Reeves Another Improbable Tale

Dean Reeves knows what he speaks of when he talks about being part of an extraordinary storyline.

Five years ago, Reeves and his wife, Patti, were at the forefront of a narrative that would get someone mocked at a Hollywood script reading for its fantastical plotline. Their Baby Huey of a colt—the one who helped ignite their foray into racing, the one conditioned by heart-transplant survivor Kathy Ritvo and ridden by come-backing, Hall of Fame ironman Gary Stevens—put an exclamation point on all the incredible stories when he captured what was then the richest race in North America. 

As much as the Reeves' hoped Mucho Macho Man 's memorable triumph in the 2013 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) would be the first of many successes for them in Thoroughbred racing, being associated with a contender with that many layers of intrigue figured to be a difficult standard to match. 

When entries were taken for the $16 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) at Gulfstream Park, however, a new level of wonderment officially became part of the Reeves' reality.

"This is unheard of," Dean Reeves laughed. "We're in unchartered territory now."

Indeed, there is no roadmap for the kind of precedent Toast of New York is setting with his expected presence in the world's richest race Jan. 27. After being retired to stud duties in Qatar in early 2015, the now 7-year-old son of Thewayyouare has returned to the races off a three-year layoff and—with assistance from the Reeves' and their partners as stakeholders of an entry in the Pegasus—is aiming to do the improbable by picking up where he left off in Saturday's 1 1/8-mile test.

The last time the racing community saw Toast of New York stateside, he fell a nose short of besting Bayern  in the 2014 Breeders' Cup Classic. Though a soft tissue injury initially prompted his retirement, he covered only about 15 mares for owner Al Shaqab Racing's breeding farm in Doha and was subsequently returned to the yard of trainer Jamie Osborne last March in preparation for a surprise return to racing.

If word that Toast of New York was back on the gallops was a stunner, what came next added another layer of amazement in the saga of the group 2 winner. In his first start back, he captured a 1 1/4-mile race at England's Lingfield Park Racecourse by a length Dec. 6. With that effort came emboldened talk of trying to find a Pegasus World Cup shareholder willing to take a chance that the veteran's resurrected form still had all-world capability. 

Enter the Reeves and their partners Randy Hill and Eric Young, who purchased a spot in the Pegasus for a second straight season, but did not have a contender of their own to run. When talks with Al Shaqab began, Dean Reeves admits he had to give himself a refresher course on just who this horse was. 

The more he studied Toast of New York's back class, the more he was won over by the notion that—just maybe—the horse who nearly claimed North America's top prize in his heyday still had it in him to make good.

"I went back and sort of educated myself on who we were talking about, and saw that as a 3-year-old he was one of the top horses in the country and had run really well," Reeves said. "I had to kind of figure out what happened to him, where he'd gone and so forth. I watched the race over in England and it was hard for us to get a feel for how difficult that was. But you know, some of it was that I didn't feel like there were other opportunities (to land) a horse that could beat (reigning Breeders' Cup Classic winner and 2017 Horse of the Year) Gun Runner .

"I raced (graded stakes winner) Breaking Lucky against Gun Runner three times last year so I know what we're up against. We've all got to run such a tremendous race just to compete with him. So we said look, this horse may have the talent to do it. And we were able to come up with an agreeable deal with the owner and our group."

Reeves jokes that being asked 'what the heck he and his partners were thinking' has become part of his daily routine since making the deal with Al Shaqab in December to start Toast of New York in the Pegasus. It's a query the affable Osborne has repeatedly been fielding himself since he took on the unheard of task of trying to rejuvenate an athlete after more than 1,000 days on the sidelines.

Osborne's strong endearment to his charge was evident when the two were traveling the globe years ago, winning races like the 2014 U.A.E. Derby Sponsored By The Saeed & Mohammed Al Naboodah Group (G2) along the way. Were he not convinced he was seeing signs of the same old 'Toast' who ran second to champion Shared Belief in that year's TVG Pacific Classic Stakes (G1), Osborne asserts he would have never let such a comeback even gain traction.

"It's an unprecedented thing for us, for most flat trainers. There wouldn't be many who would even try and do it," Osborne said. "We were open minded when he came back. If it wasn't going to work or if he showed he had no aptitude for it, no desire for it anymore, he would have disappeared back to his old life. 

"To get him to the point where he could compete in the Pegasus, we were 1,000-1 when we started. The fact we are not just back, but we're back with the belief that he is as good, if not better than he was back in 2014, is beyond our wildest dream."

Winning over the all-weather course at Lingfield against a less than formidable field is one thing. Trying to stand toe-to-toe on dirt with proven top-level contenders like Gun Runner, Collected, Sharp Azteca, and West Coast will require a level of aptitude from Toast of New York that will automatically make him a racing folk hero.

If Reeves draws encouragement from anything Mucho Macho Man taught him during his 25-race career, it is how mental development in a horse can be every bit the game changer. The gangly kid who ran third in the 2011 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) had become almost unrecognizable—in a good way—during his breakout 5-year-old season.

To that end, Reeves is hoping some old-school maturity can give Toast of New York an added push in his quest to make what is already one of the remarkable tales in the sport a story for the ages.

"We found through Mucho Macho Man that a horse at 5- and 6-years-old—the mentality that they've acquired by going through grade 1 stakes races just makes them tougher than a solid 3-year-old and maybe even a 4-year-old," Reeves said. "Mucho Macho Man understood so much more about his preparation after all those years, and I think Toast of New York brings some of that age and knowledge that he has gained through growing up and being a 7-year-old. I think he'll come into the race a very strong and determined horse.

"If this horse pulls it off, it will be some kind of unique story."