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By Ray Hickson

It’s been a long road back to the races for former star import Victoria Road and the vibe from the Ciaron Maher stable is they’re not sure what to expect when he returns from a two year absence at Randwick on Saturday.

Johann Gerard-Dubord (Pic: Bradley Photos)

Victoria Road was a Group 1 winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in the USA in 2022 and was brought to Australia a year later by Aidan O’Brien to contest the Cox Plate where he finished ninth behind Romantic Warrior.

After his first start for the Maher camp in the Cantala Stakes he was rested with a view to returning the following autumn but as Maher’s assistant trainer Johann Gerard-Dubord explains he’s had a couple of false starts including one from a serious injury.

“Like with many of these European horses he needed a bit of time off after he raced,’’ Gerard-Dubord said.

“As he was starting back on the water walker, I don’t know how, he cut his back leg and it was a nasty wound he had. He still has a scar on the back leg.

“It’s taken a long time to get that to heal.”

That incident happened around 18 months ago and caused a complete reset.

“When it finally healed and we started working him again he had a couple of jump outs at Bong Bong and we didn’t feel he was giving us everything he had,’’ he said.

“So we gelded him and that pushed back the whole process.”

Now a six-year-old, Victoria Road is heads back to the races in the Robrick Lodge Filante Handicap (1600m) which is his first run away from the top level since those two-year-old days.

He’ll be spotting his opposition weight with his 61kg, of course a good deal of race fitness, and there’s a chance he could concede them a head start given he’s drawn an outside barrier.

Gerard-Dubord said with four trials under his belt, the first two when based at Maher’s Bobs Farm complex near Newcastle, it’s time to find out if Victoria Road, $6.50 with TAB on Thursday, is still a racehorse.

“We’ve done as much as we could but he might take a couple of runs,’’ he said.

“He has a big weight, he’s improved with every trial but I don’t think his last trial was enough.

“When you have a horse that hasn’t raced for so long, especially older horses, it will take a bit of racing before we get him at his best again.

“He had a lot of racing at two and we’ve had to reset with him but he’s the soundest horse we have.

“It’s whether his heart is still there, whether his brain is still there. He’ll be a bit rusty.

“It’s hard to know how he’s going to run, he could run well because he’s a classy horse but he could run poorly because it’s been a long time.

“We’ll let him find his feet and ride him to finish off, and see how strong he is late."

Meanwhile, TAB Everest placegetter Jimmysstar will be back at Randwick on Saturday week to contest the $3 million Russell Balding Stakes (1300m).

Victoria Road wins a Warwick Farm trial on October 17

Gerard-Dubord said he’s come through his third behind Ka Ying Rising in fine style and would like to think the barrier gods might finally be kind to him.

“He went straight to Bong Bong post-race,’’ he said.

“I think he’ll have just the one piece of work in between, that’s what we did before he won the All Aged.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday’s meeting at Randwick