The Matthew Cooper-trained Call Her Julie will be looking to notch up her second win of the season when she lines up in the Triple M Hobart Pace tonight in Hobart.
The daughter of Lombo Pocket Watch comes into the race after a handy second placing to Im Compliant in Launceston on 7 July, where she was defeated by two-meters after doing a bit of work in the middle stages of the race, and her trainer-driver was pleased with that performance.
“It was a really tough run, I took off three-wide at the bell and it took me a while to get to the death, I reckon if the race was another 10 meters further she would have won that race as she was coming again at the finish,” Cooper said.
That performance was the first start back in the state for the reigning Tasmanian Mare Of The Year after an unsuccessful four-start campaign at Melton in Victoria where she was in the care of expat Tasmanian Justin Campbell.
“I think she is a one-person horse, Justin (Campbell) said she didn’t try much and we all know the real Julie tries her heart out,” the Oatlands-based trainer-driver said.
Call Her Julie lines up in race two tonight which is for horses with a national rating of 75 to 84 over 2090 metres, where Cooper will be looking to position the mare in a forward position.
“There is a bit of gate speed inside me but I will keep pushing forward and hopefully I can find the spot outside the leader or even the lead,” said Cooper.
Cooper had the mare engaged in last week's Matron Stakes however that race was deleted when it failed to secure enough nominations, and despite that minor setback, Cooper is still pleased with the mare's fitness.
“She’s been going good at home and is running around full of her self,” the trainer-driver explained.
Call Her Julie, winner of the state's premier mare's race, the George Johnson, in Hobart earlier this year is in her final months of racing before being retired from the track.
“She will probably have another six starts before we look at retiring her to the breeding barn, she has been a fantastic horse to me, and I thought I would never get one as good as her and then the next thing Call Me Hector bobs up in my stable,” Cooper explained.
Call Me Hector, a half-brother to Call Her Julie has headed to the spelling paddock after his last start second to Ryley Major in Hobart last Sunday.
“He will have a few weeks off now, he pulled up a bit sore after his last start, the splash sheet came off one side, pulled the crupper and hopples to one side, which meant his hopples on one side was near under his hock during the race, it's looking good at the moment but the plan was always to give him a break,” Cooper said.
Tonight’s seven-event card in Hobart gets underway with the Rexel North Hobart Pace at 16:38 and the meeting will be televised on Sky Racing 2 and TasracingTV's live stream.
