Julius imperious in Foxbridge lead-up

Talented sprinter Julius returned to action in yesterday’s Allied Security 1200 at Te Rapa and turned in a dominant performance in an ominous sign of things to come.

The patiently-handled seven-yearold notched the seventh victory of his career after absorbing the early pressure from eventual placegetters Resurrect and Contessa Vanessa to stamp himself as the horse to beat in the group two Foxbridge Plate (1200m) on August 18.

“He’s only seventy-five or eightyfive per cent fit really,” winning trainer John Bell said.

“What he did was more than satisfactory and we will look after him for the next two weeks and come back for the Foxbridge.

“We don’t do a lot with him. We keep the weight off his legs as he’s a heavy boy. He is doing everything right and he just keeps improving.”

Bell said a start in the group one Tarzino Trophy (1400m) at Hastings on September 1 would depend on how he came through his next assignment. The Cambridge-trained galloper has never finished out of the placings in his 11 career starts.

Winning rider Jason Waddell was delighted with the return of one of the country’s most exciting gallopers.

“They were just running themselves into the ground taking him on,” Waddell said. “It is a bad way to try and race against him because he’s a heartbreaker.

“He showed his class with 59.5kg fresh-up and he hasn’t been wound up at all. I’ve got a pretty easy job. He’s an uncomplicated horse to ride.”