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Polytrack specialist Julius Caesar came with a grandstand finish to give trainer James Peters just as an emphatic an ending to his day with a hat-trick of wins in the $80,000 Class 3 race over 1000m on Sunday.
Having already taken his 2018 score to 22 winners with Mr Hooper and Mr Hanks (see other report) earlier, the Englishman went on to leap from 10th to eighth spot when Julius Caesar produced a sizzling turn of foot to claim the penultimate event of the nine-race programme.
Settled near last throughout the speed scamper which was headed by a trio made up of favourite My Horse (Nooresh Juglall) as the lamplighter, First Choice (Daniel Moor) and Best Wishes (Syahir Abdul), Julius Caesar (Michael Rodd) still spotted the leaders around seven lengths coming to the home turn and looking more like a no-hoper than an all-conquering ruler.
As he was flushed out the widest looking like he was paddling away more than anything else, not many would have pinned their hopes on the I Am Invincible four-year-old to finish at the thicker end of the prizemoney at that juncture.
But once Rodd had the ship steadied up, the gap started to noticeably narrow down – helped by the fact the leaders were also feeling the lactic acid kicking in.
Julius Caesar ($31), who has been struggling to find the line of late, was clearly in a winning mood this time. Showing no signs of letting up on his acceleration, he sailed towards the line with a withering turn of foot to land the spoils by half-a-length from First Choice with My Horse third another nose away. The winning time was 59.16 seconds for the 1000m on the Polytrack.
Peters praised Rodd for his masterly ride, but also attributed the China Horse Club Stable’s galloper’s form return to a few tweakings of his own.
“That was Michael Rodd at his very best. He gave him every chance by coming straight to the outside,” said Peters.
“The horse loves the Polytrack and has won three nice races on that surface for the China Horse Club before, but he has also had some bad luck at his last couple of starts.
“We have changed a few things up with him, kept him fresh and it’s paid off today.”
Rodd described Julius Caesar as a “beautiful horse with a touch of class”, even handing the highest form of flattery by comparing the near-black gelding (lookswise, that is!) with a former Australian great –the “Big O”.
“He looks like Octagonal, don’t you think? Especially here as he comes home with these big strides,” said the Australian jockey as he pointed at the video replay of the last 200m.
“He’s a beautiful horse and gave me a lovely sit throughout. He gives me a lovely feel, he’s got class.
“He was a bit stiff at his last two runs, but it was through no fault of his jockeys. He had nowhere to go.
“I rode him negative today and he was behind half the pack three deep. He was a little further back than I would have liked, though.
“As I started to wind him up, he hit a bit of a flat spot, but he then hit his full strength.”
Rodd, who rides mainly for trainer Cliff Brown, but does spread himself around when the latter has no runners, was at his first win for Peters for the present season.
“James’ a great fella. He wears his heart on his sleeve,” said the Australian rider.
“He’s still young and still has a lot to learn, but he works hard and has done a very good job so far.”
With that fourth win in 15 starts, Julius Caesar has now returned around $150,000 in the bank for the China Horse Club.