March 29 - Came Home

One of the great and well-earned names in horse racing, John Toffan, was notorious for great names on his horses. However, Came Home's name is out done by his dam.

Came Home was sent to auction a couple of times. He kept coming up short of his reserve for whatever reason. The last time he was at a sale, the bidding was approaching his reserve of $750,000 (I think that's what I was told it was.) and just a few bumps short of the reserve, a highly exacted colt decided to bolt, right off the stage and into the crowd.

John Toffan decided his best option at that point was to race his homebred. It was time to name the horse. Without any hesitation - His name is Came Home. Every time we sent him to a sale he CAME HOME! And Lady Luck is funny in that Came Home may have ended up being the best horse that John Toffan ever raced. This race is also the last race in the career of Hall of Fame jockey Chris McCarron.

Came Home is by Gone West and out of Nice Assay. John was into oil and precious metals in Canada and her name was a tribute to his mining businesses. It was also the fact that John was Canadian, and the mare's name should be pronounced Nice Ass, Aye? . . . Clever, Aye? There I said it; one of the best names ever and the jockey club obvious has no Canadians on the board that approves names.