Hello Don Julio proves best in Point of Entry Stakes

Michael Dilger thought enough of Hello Don Julio to run him in the Grade 1 Manhattan off an eight-month layoff earlier this year. Hello Don Julio ran quite well, finishing seventh, beaten just 1 1/4 lengths.

Hello Don Julio likely will get another shot at a graded stakes victory in the near future after he won his second listed stakes in 22 days, taking Sunday’s $100,000 Point of Entry Stakes by 1 3/4 lengths at Belmont Park.

Under John Velazquez, Hello Don Julio stalked the pacesetting Just Howard from second through a mile in 1:41.23, poked a head in front in the middle of the turn and gradually edged clear to get the victory. Hello Don Julio was coming off a victory in the Laurel Turf Cup on Sept. 22. Both races were run at 1 1/2 miles over soft or yielding turf.

Postulation, who was third to Hello Don Julio in the Laurel Turf Cup, finished second in the Point of Entry by 2 3/4 lengths over Patterson Cross. Just Howard, Mr Maybe, and Im the Captain Now completed the order of finish. Tizzarunner and Secret Passage, the latter a main-track-only entrant, scratched.

Hello Don Julio, a 6-year-old gelding by Afleet Alex, covered the 1 1/2 miles in 2:31.53 over a soft Widener turf course and returned $4.20 to win.

“I let my horse relax where he was comfortable, and by the time we got to the stretch, he got into the bridle, and I let him do his thing,” Velazquez said.

While Dilger, the owner and trainer of Hello Don Julio, acknowledges that his horse has kept lesser company in his last two starts, he sees another reason for his recent success.

“As he’s gotten older, he’s learned to relax more,” Dilger said. “We saw in Laurel where a horse came to his outside and [jockey] Channing [Hill] said he took a big, deep breath, settled in and relaxed and didn’t get aggressive. Today, we saw where someone else wanted the lead, he was happy to stalk and not be aggressive wanting the lead – that’s helping him to get the mile and a half.”

Dilger said he would consider returning Hello Don Julio to graded company in the Grade 3, $200,000 Red Smith going 1 3/8 miles at Aqueduct on Nov. 17.

Dilger purchased Hello Don Julio as a yearling for $65,000. Hello Don Julio now has a record of 6-4-1 from 18 starts and earnings of $428,384.