He was the hard luck story of the 2025 spring – but Sir Delius is injury free and primed for a big 2026.
The star five-year-old was sensationally ruled out of the spring by Racing Victoria vets after they ruled scans showed him at risk of injury. He was a commanding Melbourne Cup favourite at the time, he was also at the pointy end of Cox Plate betting.
The stable were of the view Sir Delius was fit but chose to concentrate on 2026.
His trainer, Adrian Bott, said their star would have a light autumn.
‘’He’s been excellent … just sort of following a similar sort of pattern and program that we have done in previous preparations with him to sort of get him back to the races and get him in peak condition, so I think he’s right on track and building nicely,’’ he told SEN.
‘’All indicators that we’re seeing and continue to analyse, we are very happy with his sort of overall condition, his health, his soundness. He’s in good shape and we’re pressing on accordingly.’’
Bott said Sir Delius would kick off 2026 in Sydney.
‘’Most likely going to see him kick off in the Verry Elleegant, the Group One over the mile,’’ he said.
‘’We’ll sort of get him straight up to 2000 meters off the back of that. So, his two sort of main targets will be sort of centred around Randwick and Queen Elizabeth sort of being the grand final, just sort of keep it a relatively little light autumn. I think that’s a nice campaign for him.’’
Bott confirmed that the Cox Plate looks to be their main target for Sir Delius, especially given its running at Flemington, which will suit.
‘’I think obviously that’d be a race that all the owners and connections would love to win,’’ Bott told SEN.
‘’The race sort of being at Flemington is certainly very attractive for him as well. And he’s obviously the quality type of horse that deserves to be there.
‘’So long range target would love to get him there, and plenty happen between now and then.’’
Bott conceded a Melbourne Cup bid could be difficult given the likely weight Sir Delius would carry.
‘’I wouldn’t say any sort of firm decisions been made there to rule that out. Again, we’ve still got a bit of time, but obviously, [we are] now dealing with a different profile of horse targeting that race as to sort of what we were last year, and he’s gone on to have sort of considerable success sort of since those weights, and you know, may sort of look a different sort of landscape for him going into it next year. So, all those sort of factors would be weighed up.’’
Bott confirmed there were no signs Sir Delius was suffering any limitations from the injuries that vets picked up in 2025.
”All the indicators are that he’s sort of right on track, within the usual limits that we’ve sort of seen in previous preparations,’’ he said.
‘’So he’s on target and naturally you’d love to continue and see improvement each campaign with more racing here in Australia. Hopefully, we can see that, but he’s still got a while before we see him properly tested.’’
