Champion pacer Chicago Bull will resume racing after an absence of nine months and Hall of Fame trainer Gary Hall Snr said that the seven-year-old was ready for a strong first-up performance when he starts from out wide, at barrier eight in the $25,000 Direct Trades Supply Pace over 2536m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
“He’s run three minutes and has run home in 55 seconds on the track at home,” Hall said. “But he’s got to run those times; that’s what Free-For-All horses have to run. He’s porky; he’s big and racing will make him better.
“I don’t think he will get back to what he was. He has been in work for three months and there’s no problem with his wither. But his off-side fetlock has been troubling him a bit.”
Chicago Bull was badly injured in a freak stable accident in New Zealand in October 2018, just a few days before he was due to have contested the New Zealand Cup at Addington. He fractured several bones in his wither when he flipped himself over backwards. He had an anaphylactic reaction to an injection.
This kept him out of action for seven months and since that accident he has raced five times at Gloucester Park for three wins, a second and a last-start fourth behind Golden State on June 28 last year when he raced wide early and then in the breeze.
Gary Hall Jnr will drive Chicago Bull, who is expected to receive stiff opposition from the up-and-coming star four-year-old Shockwave (who will start from the outside barrier in the field of nine) and the talented Greg and Skye Bond-trained seven-year-old Galactic Star, who will have many admirers, particularly because of his perfect draw at No. 1.
This will be an acid test for the Ryan Bell-trained Shockwave, who has scored effortless victories over 2130m at his past two starts.
