Isle Of Jura pencilled in for September Stakes return

George Scott has earmarked Kempton’s Unibet September Stakes for Isle Of Jura’s long-awaited comeback, with his stable star pleasing the Newmarket handler since returning to work.

A stand-out performer for the Eve Lodge team, he is unbeaten in his last five after building on his money-spinning success in Bahrain back on home soil, but he has been on the sidelines since registering a memorable victory in last year’s Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot.

However, anticipation is now building that the long road to recovery is coming to an end, with Scott optimistic the five-year-old will be ready for action on the Sunbury all-weather on September 6.

Scott said: “He’s great and back in fast work and I think we can slightly begin to dream he will be back again as he’s taken some very significant steps forwards and is in great shape. His issue is handling great and it is really exciting.

“He’s going to go to the September Stakes, that will be his race and fits well with my plan to go for the Bahrain International.

“At least now we can be optimistic and start to make these plans and look forward to getting him back. We’ve jumped a lot of hurdles now and it would just be very unlucky if we didn’t see him in the September Stakes, he’s really doing well.

“He will have been off the track for a long time by the time we get to the September Stakes so in my head I will be thinking anything there is a bonus, but he’s a special racehorse to us.”

If all goes to plan for the Victorious Racing-owned Isle Of Jura in his Kempton return, then he will swiftly be on his travels in search of further riches in the Middle East, with Scott planning an ambitious winter programme.

Scott added: “He’ll spend his winter abroad and I imagine he will go to Bahrain and then move onto something like the Jebel Hatta (Meydan) and the Neom Turf Cup (Riyadh) and then back to Dubai for World Cup night, but that is a long way off.

“There’s unbelievable money in these races abroad and he loves fast ground and flat tracks so it just makes perfect sense.”