Apollo Stakes return planned for Ceolwulf
It is just under six weeks until Ceolwulf is scheduled to make his return to the races and trainer Joe Pride says the dual Group One winner is shaping up as a “bigger, stronger horse” heading into the autumn.
Ceolwulf announced himself as one of the rising stars of the Australian turf last spring when he claimed back-to-back Group 1 wins in breathtaking fashion over the Randwick mile in the Epsom Handicap and King Charles III Stakes.
The four-year-old is currently second favourite behind Cox Plate-winning star mare Via Sistina in an early market for the weight-for-age Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Randwick in April and Pride is planning to kick off the gelding’s campaign in the Group 2 Apollo Stakes (1400m) at Randwick on February 15.
“I’m really happy with him,” Pride said.
“The aim is to run in the Apollo on the 15th (of February).
“He’s just going along really nicely.”
Ceolwulf was given a spell after his five-start Sydney spring campaign, which netted three wins, before returning to training to build towards his first targets of 2025.
“He’s put on a heap of weight,” Pride said.
“He seems like a bigger, stronger horse. How many times have you heard that from a trainer? But he does and he is actually, because he was racing at low 480s and he’s now 520 kilos.
“So he’s going to trim down a little bit before he goes to the races but there’s not an ounce of fat on him.
“He’s coming up really well.
“I’m scary excited. Because as exciting as it is, it’s scary having a horse that good.”
Pride plans to give Ceolwulf two barrier trials leading into the Apollo but is yet to lock in when they will be.
Ceolwulf finished runner-up in two Group 1s in the Rosehill Guineas and Australian Derby during his three-year-old season, when racing as a colt, before being gelded ahead of his spring campaign last year.
He won a benchmark-100 race second-up last spring over 1500m at Rosehill, then was runner-up in the Kingston Town Stakes (2000m) before taking out the Epsom and King Charles III Stakes.
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