Julius set for Counties comeback
Talented sprinter Julius has been given the green light to return to racing in Saturday’s Listed Haunui Farm Counties Bowl (1100m) at Pukekohe. The son of Swiss Ace has never finished further back than third in his 13-start career, winning seven races including last year’s Group 3 Concorde Handicap (1200m) and Group 3 Darley Plate (1200m) at Ellerslie. He lined up in last season’s Group 2 Foxbridge Plate (1200m) and was beaten by a nose by Melody Belle, who has subsequently won nine Group 1 races and was crowned New Zealand’s Horse of the Year.
His rapid rise was cut short 12 months ago when he was found to have a hole in his near fore tendon after a third placing in the Group 3 Sweynesse Stakes (1215m) at Rotorua, and he was retired from racing. But Julius had other ideas.
“We put him out on a large sheep station on the west coast, and we just let him run around there for quite some time. In the end he started running around too much, there was obviously nothing wrong with him at all,” trainer John Bell said. “So we decided to bring him back. We brought him along gently at first, putting him in the pool and giving him quite some time on the walker. Then we gradually built up his work from there.
“He had his final work this morning, a very good 1000m gallop by himself on the course proper (Cambridge). He ran his last 600m in just over 35. Jason Waddell (jockey) knows him well and is over the moon with him, so we think he’s in good order to resume his career on Saturday. “Everybody has put in a huge amount of work on this horse, from vets to the team at home at Bell Racing. They’ve done a great job of looking after him, as we do with all our horses.”
Julius will carry 60kg against a strong sprinting line-up that includes rising star mare Marzemino, the winner of all of her last three starts. “He’s got a fair bit of weight on his back, which tempers our expectations first-up,” Bell said. “But he’s drawn nicely in gate four, and we’ll just put him somewhere where he’s comfortable. Hopefully he’ll have an opportunity in the straight to get out and finish it off strongly.”
Julius holds a nomination for the Group 1 Sistema Railway (1200m) at Ellerslie on New Year’s Day, which had been last year’s major summer target prior to his injury. “He’s nominated for the Railway, and we’ll look at it very seriously,” Bell said. “It would certainly be nice for him to have his chance in a Group 1 race.
“But we’ll just take him along quietly and have a bit of fun with him. Races like the Concorde (January 25) and the Darley (now called the Haunui Farm King’s Plate, February 29), which he’s won previously, could be nice targets for him again.”