A glance at horse show results from Caledon to the Winter Equestrian Festival over the past few years is bound to feature the name Asta Torokvei in hunter and jumper classes and equitation championships. The 38-year-old rider from King City, ON, who got the horse bug as a kid after a two-week riding camp stint, was part of the Canadian team that earned Team Silver at the in 2004 North America Young Riders (then NAJYRC) competition in Wadsworth, Ill, and also showed jumpers in Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands from 2013-2017.
Recently her name popped up in a different segment of the horse world when her horse Tavaline won impressively in her debut in a maiden race at Woodbine Racetrack on August 28th. The three-year-old Kentucky-bred filly is by the US stallion Runhappy and is the first foal of her dam Catsadiva (USA). She is trained by Tony Gattellaro.
Why horse racing? “I have loved and been involved with horses for close to thirty years now, but I never knew much about racing,” Asta admits. “The first race I ever went to was The Pegasus Invitational in 2019 [at Gulfstream Park in Florida]. After that I can admit I had a new appreciation for the sport and wanted to know more about it.”
She calls becoming a thoroughbred owner “sort of a happy accident. I needed a paddock buddy for a filly I bred. I had spoken to some friends who also had foals that year, but they were all colts. Long story short, it seemed like a good excuse to buy a racehorse! I was friends with Tony [Gattellaro] and asked him to help me find one. The rest is history.”
Tavaline as a weanling.
The search for a paddock pal led her to the Keeneland November auction in 2019 where she purchased Tavaline as a weaning. “I can’t take any credit for finding/choosing her, that was all Tony and Matt Jackson. My only requirements were that she needed to be a filly and not a total psycho. If they could find one that would end up being an okay racehorse, even better. I would say they picked the perfect one.
“I actually have another solo foal this year, so who knows, maybe we will find ourselves back at Keeneland this November!”
As Gattellaro ‒ whom she had met in Wellington, Florida on the sidelines of one of her brother’s polo games ‒ had picked out the filly, “he was the obvious choice to train her. I trust him completely to make the best decisions for my horse.”
Asta describes her racing star’s personality. “We call her Diva in the barn, after her mom, and thankfully she doesn’t often live up to her name. She is actually quite sweet most of the time. She has always been relatively fearless and very intelligent. Anytime we would do something new with the fillies she was always game.
“For example, we started trailer training them in the summer as yearlings. We would put both ramps down and walk them on and off as they came in from the field at the end of the day. Diva thought it was the best thing … she would almost get upset if we walked her past the trailer and didn’t let her get on it.
“She also really doesn’t like to go slow.” This is a good thing in this business!
Asta and Karmino competing in Wellington last winter.
The best part of racehorse ownership, according to Asta, is hard to pin down. “Picking a best part is pretty much impossible. Race day was amazing, and winning was surreal. I don’t get as nervous or as excited competing myself as I did watching Diva! I love being able to come down to the track in the morning to watch her train; that might honestly be my favourite part. However, designing my silks and deciding on a name for her was pretty fun, too.” Her father’s family is from Estonia, hence the black, blue and white racing colours that were chosen; the word ‘tavaline’ means ‘plain’ in Estonian. “The horse has no markings, she is a plain bay, so I thought the name was fitting ‒ plus it’s pretty.”
Back in the show ring, Asta is still heavily involved on the competition side. “I am less focused on equitation these days, but I still compete in both the hunters and jumpers. Two of my grand prix mares unfortunately got injured, so I also seem to have turned into a breeder as well.”
And plans for Tavaline going forward? “I think the plan is just to take it day by day and race by race.”
