Saturday’s $250,000 Group One JR & N Berkett Telegraph (1200m) at Trentham will give Julius (NZ) (Swiss Ace) the chance to move one step closer to a lucrative $100,000 NZB Insurance Sprint Triple Crown Bonus.
The Sprint Triple Crown is one of three NZB Insurance Triple Crown Series introduced to New Zealand racing this season, comprising the $200,000 Group One Sistema Railway (1200m) at Ellerslie on New Year’s Day, this weekend’s Telegraph and the $200,000 Group One BCD Group Sprint (1400m) at Te Rapa on February 8.
The other two Series are the Weight-For-Age Triple Crown and Fillies and Mares’ Triple Crown, and each of the three Series carries a $100,000 bonus for any horse who can win all three races.
A year after suffering a tendon injury that could have been career-ending, Julius captured the first leg of the Sprint Triple Crown Series with a brilliant victory in the Sistema Railway at Ellerslie earlier this month.
Now he heads to Trentham, where he will again lock horns with the rivals who made him work so hard for his Railway triumph.
Australian raider Winter Bride (Not a Single Doubt) was a gallant second in the Railway after being trapped wide from her outside gate. It was a similar story with the third-placed Evalina (I Am Invincible), who is also back for a rematch, and so is the fourth-placed Dawn Patrol (NZ) (Dawn Approach).
Newcomers to the Series include the high-class mare Avantage (Fastnet Rock) and the South Islander Enzo’s Lad (Testa Rossa), who has won the Telegraph in each of the last two years.
The Telegraph will be run as Race 7 on Saturday with a start time of 3:52pm.
