Toxic Gray impresses in New York debut

Toxic Gray, a horse nobody seemingly wanted before he ever ran, seems to be drawing a bandwagon following his first two starts.

On Saturday at Aqueduct, Toxic Gray won a six-furlong maiden special weight race by a head over well-regarded first-time starter Everso Mischievous, who was sent off as the 3-5 favorite. It was 12 1/2 lengths back to third. Toxic Gray, a 3-year-old son of Verrazano, earned a 91 Beyer Speed Figure for the performance.

Toxic Gray was making his first start for trainer Mike Miceli and owners David Berley, Christopher Borducci and George Raymond. They bought the horse following his second-place finish at 43-1 in a maiden $40,000 claiming race at Tampa Bay Downs on Dec. 30.

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Toxic Gray, a $13,000 yearling purchase by Jessica Dominguez, failed to meet his reserve at the OBS 2-year-old auction in June. Miceli said Gayle Woods, the woman who broke the horse, had mentioned the horse to bloodstock agent Joe Brocklebank, Miceli’s brother-in-law. Miceli said the fact the horse was by Verrazano didn’t excite his owners at first, so they initially passed on the horse. The horse was made available again following his debut at Tampa and a deal was done.

Miceli, a former jockey, said the horse trained well enough for him to try him in maiden special weight company.

“He didn’t train like a cheap horse,” Miceli said. “A horse can go fast enough, yet he’s lacking in class. If they’re lacking in class, they run to the quarter pole and they lay down on you. I’ve ridden a lot of those types.”

On Saturday, Toxic Gray made a four-wide bid at the quarter pole and hooked up with Everso Mischievous and ran with him through the lane, getting his head on the wire first.

“Everything went good, I was proud of him, he fought back hard, he got headed by that horse of Brad Cox’s and got it done,” Miceli said.

Miceli said Toxic Gray has plenty of options for his next start - if he’s still in his barn for his next start.

“I had one or two guys already call me on him,” Miceli said. “We’ll see which way it goes.”

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