Race favourite Julius justified some heavy tote support when he demolished a quality field in Saturday’s Gr.3 Darley Stallions Plate (1200m).

Unbeaten in his first two starts following a lengthy break, the six-year-old Swiss Ace gelding was sent out at cramped odds to pick up his second Group Three prize after success in the Concorde Handicap (1200m) at his last start. 

Punters who took the short odds were on good terms with themselves throughout the early stages of the contest as rider Jason Waddell jumped Julius away well from a mid-field barrier to sit within striking distance of the pace that was set up by the speedy mare Rich Billie Marsh.

Waddell began to get serious approaching the home turn as he moved his charge into a challenging position as the back-runners began to make their runs in pursuit of the weakening leaders.

A wall of horses moved into contention at the 300m mark but by this stage Waddell had Julius in full flight as he shot to the lead. Heroic Valour was making good ground on the rail to issue his challenge while Sultan Of Swing was also finishing powerfully but their chase was in vain as Julius was off and gone as he strode home by a neat length in a slick 1.08.32 for the 1200m journey.

“He’s an original gangster,” said Waddell when questioned after the race.

“He’s big and he’s strong even though he’s still learning the game. You just can’t get past him as he’s too big and too strong.”

Waddell believed he had the race well under control throughout despite some early mind games from some of his rivals.

“Sam Collett (riding Passing Shot) wanted to play jockeys with me early on but I didn’t want to go down to the fence,” he said.

“We just let her go and tacked on to her back where she gave me a nice cart into the straight. He had to fight them off but he was never really going to get beaten.

“We got beaten a year ago on this day in rating 75 grade but a year later we are winning the Darley Plate.

“He can go anywhere this horse.”

The victory was the sixth from just 10 starts for Julius who has yet to finish out of the top three in his career to date which has seen him earn in just under $180,000 in prizemoney. 
 
Video replay: Julius winning the Gr.3 Darley Stallions Plate (1200m)