Moody Says Julia Has To Wait
- Saturday, 20 October 2012 01:22
A Time For JuliaLuke Nolen rode the winner of the first race on Caulfield Cup day for the fourth year in succession today when he guided A Time For Julia to a neck victory in the Snowhite Maintenance Plate.
Settling well back in the nine horse field Nolen explained:
"She sprung well but she couldn't have been any closer."
"She switched off lovely which was great."
"When asked she quickened up nicely but she is still working it out."
Expected to win easily after being backed from $4 in early markets, A Time For Julia ($2.05-$2.20F) was hard pressed to score by a neck from the Michael Rodd ridden Ciao ($31-$21) after getting out in plenty of time in the straight. Third was Real Stolle ($26-$31-$21) $ridden by Christian Reith which finished fairly from mid-field to be 1ΒΌ lengths behind Ciao.
Winning trainer Peter Moody took notice of the difficulty that A Time For Julia had in wearing down Ciao in deciding that now might be a good time for her to have a spell.
A Time For Julia"I think everyone expected her to be in front or thereabouts and it probably surprised me how far she was off them but she made a long, sustained run and maintained that through to the line."
"I had it in my mind that I would like to take her to Flemington for a stakes race but just looking at that I think she has just about come to the end of it."
"She is in her first racing prep(aration) and still learning about it and she is still a bit light and weak behind the saddle."
"I don't think it's that she can't put them away but she probably just lacks that strength but she has very nice ability."
Nolen sees a bright future for A Time For Julia.
"She is a nicely talented filly and she's got it all in front of her."
"I can't wait to see her in the Autumn with the benefit of some good spring weather on her back."
A Time For Julia"She is laying the foundations for hopefully a very fruitful career."
Moody shared Nolen's view, predicting a black type future for A Time For Julia in 2013.
"I think she is going to be a better mare than she is a filly so in the autumn we will chase black type and then as a four-year-old think she will be a cracking mare and fully mature."
"She is a very late foal and we've taken our time and we're not going to rush her and we're looking forward to the future with her."
"I think on the back of that and the way she went to sleep she will certainly run a nice mile and there are plenty of nice races six furlongs (1200m) to a mile (1600m)."
A Time For Julia is out of four time stakes producer Procrastinate, dam of Foreplay, Laisserfaire, Time Thief and Personify.
She was sold to the bid of Mark Kavanagh at the 2010 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale for $600,000 but now races in the ownership of John Camilleri.
Photos: Quentin Lang
