Just Folk couldn’t be going any better, but for barrier and track conditions ahead of Golden Mile at Bendigo

It doesn’t look like a happy homecoming for former Bendigo favourite Just Folk on Saturday, with the weather and barrier gods dealing cruel blows for the Golden Mile.

Just Folk wins the Eclipse Stakes at Caulfield in December last year. Picture: Brett Holburt / Racing Photos

Just Folk has been snubbed by the weather and barrier gods in the Listed Golden Mile (1600m) on Saturday.

Cranbourne conditioner Gavin Bedggood has the former Bendigo favourite otherwise primed for the second-up assignment in familiar surrounds.

“He couldn’t be in any better order,” Bedggood said.

“The only dampener is he’s not going to get wet ground but they’re the cards we’re dealt, we got to move on.”

Just Folk finished fourth in the Golden Mile last year on a Good 4 track, the gelding’s fourth last start for retired Bendigo trainer Josh Julius.

“He’s always going to be around the mark in these races,” Bedggood said.

“He’s a classy horse obviously, he was able to win a stakes race for us last preparation and was pretty much competitive in everything he ran in.

“He’ll be around the mark, but probably won’t see him at his absolute best on quicker ground.”

Just Folk, just wins! 🤏@[e-mail]/Mer59wFORs

— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) December 2, 2023

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With only five millimetres of rain recorded in Bendigo the past week, the track will again be a Good 4.

Just Folk has won seven of 38 starts but only once on a Good track.

“His form pretty much says soft to heavy is when he’s at his best, unfortunately we’re not going to get that on the weekend because I don’t think I could have him in much better order,” Bedgood said.

Just Folk is an $11 chance with TAB in a wide open betting race behind Golden Path ($6), Euphoric ($6.50), Foxy Frida ($7.50), The Summit ($8), Belle Plaisir ($8) and Makram ($8.50).

Bedggood has turned a $199,000 outlay last year for Just Folk – bought out of an Inglis Digital sale – into $260,000 prizemoney for the new connections.

The seven-year-old raced consistently last campaign, with a Group 3 Eclipse Stakes win and three black type placings, including third in the Cranbourne and Ballarat Cups.

“If he can come back every prep and win quarter of a million we’ll be laughing,” Bedggood said.

Just Folk resumed with a gallant sixth in the Group 2 Ajax Stakes last month in Sydney.

Photo! 📸

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It’s also a winning treble to @mcacajamez and @cwallerracing!@aus_turf_clubpic.twitter.com/NodLXBte6c

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“I thought he went fantastic, a lot of those horses moved onto a Doncaster or had aspirations of moving that way,” Bedggood said.

“I thought he held himself in good regard and will improve off that run.”

Just Folk is slated to return to NSW next month for the Hawkesbury Cup.

“The first up run (Ajax) was a fork in a road run, I thought if you be honest with yourself beaten 2.5 lengths, maybe with even luck we get beaten 1.5 and run fourth, but I didn’t think we could win a Doncaster or be running top four or five in it,” Bedggood said.

“I thought it would be a wasted exercise to stay up there, even though he was going to get wet ground, and we were going to run into Another Wil in the Doncaster Prelude.

“The plan was to come back here for the race at Bendigo, the bottom line there wasn’t much else around up there unfortunately.”