In Brief
- First-starter impressive.
- Trainer says gelding was a handful early on.
- Julius looks set for bright future.
The owners of well-bred three-year-old Julius have been patiently waiting for the son of Time for War to make it to the races and in Devonport on Sunday the gelding repaid them with an emphatic maiden win on debut.
Julius was sensationally backed in from $6 and higher to start the $2.10 favourite on the back of an impressive trial win.
The Leanne Gaffney-trained gelding never let her owners down by delivering a bold front-running display to score comfortably from Reward Achiever ($4.80) and Society Bill ($12).
Julius missed the start, but jockey Ismail Toker urged him to take a forward spot and so quickly did he accelerate, he found the front with Society Bill (Kyle Maskiell) content to sit outside of the leader.
When Toker asked for an effort, Julius responded and went on to score by almost a length.
Gaffney said the gelding had been a “handful” but is slowly coming to terms with racing.
Julius races in the Star Thoroughbred colours and was purchased by Star’s managing director Denise Martin who paid $77,500 for the horse at the 2019 Tasmanian Magic Millions Yearling sale.
Amongst Julius’ band of owners is Queenstown businessman Phil Evans who has been involved as an owner of many horses purchased by Star.
“I’ve been on the journey with Star for many years but that’s understandable given the first horse I raced with Denise was Theseo and he won multiple Group one races and he took me on an incredible ride,” Evans said.
“Julius has been a bit of a work in progress but he seems to be getting it all together so we might have a bit if fun with him.
“It’s not always about winning it’s just the thrill and joy of being a part of it (racing).”
Listen to what trainer Leanne Gaffney had to say about Julius and watch the race replay below.
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