Michael Foley and John Hassall have known each other from primary school days, both interested in punting and attending race meetings in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Last November (1999) they decided to take a more serious interest by becoming actual racehorse owners in conjunction with John's wife Laurie.
As first time racehorse owners they were advised to first find a racehorse trainer, then in conjunction with the trainer seek out a suitable racehorse. They were introduced to trainer Jamie Scott through Michael's girlfriend Annette McNally. Having been asked to keep a lookout for a suitable 2 year old either for lease or sale Jamie asked John to travel to Berwick to see a beautiful chestnut filly.
Born on 12 October 1997, the filly was bred by Dr. W.R. Riches at Kilora Stud, Berwick, Victoria. Thanks to Dr. Riches Toy Saint is Super Vobis qualified, which means that when running in certain races she is eligible for up to twice the prize money stated. Out of Big on Toys from St. Covet , John & Michael believed with her breeding and gumption that she had great potential and purchased her on 2nd December 1999.
She went to Jamie Scott's Flemington stables to be broken in on the 11 December '99. After being successfully broken in she was sent out for a spell at Riverbank Agistment in Benalla on 13th January 2000.
Meanwhile John, Laurie, Michael & Annette (now nominated to be the manager to handle paperwork, bills etc. and thus have an active interest) began the exciting task of naming the filly. A list of 7 names was submitted for registration, with Toy Saint being 5th on the list (actually 1st choice was Toy Halo). The name Toy Saint was derived from her sire (Saint) and her dam (Toy) and had nothing to do with the fact that both Michael and John are one-eyed St. Kilda supporters. For those outside of the Australian Football League scene St.Kilda is an AFL team (some may question this statement with St. Kilda finishing on the bottom of the ladder last season 2000).
She then returned to Flemington on the 24th April 2000 for further work. Although proving to be a smart little filly she caught a virus, which set back her training program a couple of weeks. It was then decided to give her another spell, again at Riverbank Agistment returning to Flemington on Monday 25th September 2000.
Well she had her first run on Friday 15th December 2000 at Benalla and finished 4th, after a photo finish for 3rd, to the delight of all owners. She has now gone out to spell at Riverbank Agistment for probably about 4 weeks and we hope that she'll be back on the race track before the end of February 2001.
Toy Saint is now back in work, having returned to Flemington on Friday 19th January. Hopefully only a few more weeks till she is back in a race.
Well she had her fifth run (1st run a 4th at Benalla 15th Dec 2000, 2nd run a 1st at Camperdown 18th March 2001, 3rd run a 2nd at Kilmore 9th April 2001, 4th run a 7th at Sandown 22nd April 2001) at Werribee on Thursday 17th May and she came 10th, being in a very unco-operative mood (she played up prior during and after the race, totally out of character for this normally placid easy going filly) and will now be going for a spell, keep in touch to find out when she will be returning to a racetrack.
