Owner Dan Borislow dead at 52
Dan Borislow, the brash entrepreneur best known in Thoroughbred circles for owning the standout runner Toccet, died of a heart attack Monday night, less than two months after taking down a massive pick-six jackpot at Gulfstream Park.
Borislow, 52, died after playing in a pick-up soccer game in West Palm Beach, Fla., from where he operated his business and where he was highly active in youth soccer.
Borislow made a fortune in business, most recently by selling “MagicJack,” a device that allows customers to make free phone calls through the Internet. His background was in telephone communications in the Philadelphia area, where he founded Tel-Save, a successful company that allowed him to temporarily retire in the late 1990s and make a serious foray into racing and breeding.
Borislow was known within the racing establishment as someone who sometimes ruffled feathers with his outspoken demeanor. Toccet, a Borislow homebred trained by John Scanlan, won four stakes as a 2-year-old, including the Grade 1 Champagne and Grade 1 Hollywood Futurity, and was a divisional Eclipse Award finalist of 2002. Toccet was named for Borislow’s close friend, hockey star Rick Tocchet.
Borislow also owned Talk Is Money, a $1.8-million yearling purchase who carried his colors to a last-place finish in the 2001 Kentucky Derby. He had not been seriously involved as an owner in recent years, with his last top horse being Wild Desert, winner of the 2005 Queen’s Plate.
At the time of his death, Borislow had been living primarily in West Palm Beach, where on May 25 he was the only winner of a pick-six pool worth nearly $6.7 million. The jackpot had carried over for months at Gulfstream Park when Borislow, who placed his bet at the Palm Beach Kennel Club, crafted a perfect ticket that cost $7,603.20.
One of Borislow’s close friends, hockey analyst and former National Hockey League standout Keith Jones, said Tuesday that the news of Borislow’s death “is shocking.”
Borislow is survived by his wife, Michele, and two children, Danny and Kylie.
Memorial services are being held Friday in the Kravis Center ballroom in Palm Beach from 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern.