George Scott eager to unleash Isle Of Jura at Newmarket

George Scott is full of confidence ahead of the long-awaited return of Isle Of Jura at Newmarket on Friday.

The globetrotting five-year-old took his winning streak to five when emphatically beating Goliath in the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot last year, but injury derailed his progress and he has been on the sidelines ever since.

It has been a painstaking wait for connections to see their star middle-distance performer back on track, but their patience and hard work could be rewarded on the Rowley Mile for the Listed Boylesports Smart Race Card Godolphin Stakes.

Scott said: “We’ve had a great preparation and we feel he is a fit, happy horse who is absolutely ready to get started.

“We were always slightly worried what ground we might end up on at this time of year, but the ground is going to be perfect and there will be no issue with that for him at all, it will be really nice ground.

“There’s been a lot of work and a lot of love gone into getting him back, but he’s a horse who loves being a racehorse and it’s been quite straightforward getting him back into training.

“He’s never the most exuberant work horse, he can be quite workmanlike, but we have been seeing the right signs to get him back started.”

Already a winner of Bahrain’s Triple Crown, returning to his owners Shaikh Nasser Al Khalifa and Shaikh Khalid Al Khalifa’s homeland – and the country in which Isle Of Jura made his name – would be on the cards if coming through his return unscathed, with Scott targeting the valuable Bahrain International Trophy.

“I just want to see him run a respectable race and come back sound and then we can build a programme around that,” added Scott.

“The plan is to go for the Bahrain International but he very much has to get through this race first. I’m confident he will, I’m very happy with him.”