By Alex Nolan
Capalaba specialist Columbian King will forever hold a special place in Jamie Hosking’s heart, which is why the trainer was so reluctant to return to the races with him.
But, after almost 10 months away from the track, the ‘King’ of Capalaba returns to his favourite patch of turf on Sunday just in time for the Straight Of Origin series.
A winner of 23 races from 33 attempts at Capalaba, including victory in the 2021 Capalaba Cup, Columbian King is set to exit box four in Race 7, which is a Queensland heat of the series.
He may have been back sooner, had major floods and Hosking’s nerves not intervened.
Columbian King was on track to return to the races in February this year after recovering from recurring back injuries.
When the floods hit South East Queensland and sidelined Capalaba and Albion Park for an extended period, those plans were thrown into chaos.
“Any dog that wasn’t up and racing at the time meant we struggled to get them fit,” Hosking said.
“It was hard to get trials and racing was the priority and when you’ve got a dog coming back from injury that’s not ideal.”
Hosking continued to bring Columbian King along after the flood waters subsided but that’s when his own self-doubt began to creep up.
A comment from visiting trainer Steve Withers who asked “why is that dog not racing?” may have been the nudge Hosking needed.
He would eventually take the son of Dyna Double One for a return to racing trial about a month ago.
“I was very nervous,I didn’t want him to disappoint anyone,” Hosking said.
“I told myself he’d have to break 20 seconds at Capalaba to keep going and he must have heard me, because he ran 19.96 seconds.
“Everyone knows how good he is, but he has been away from the track for 10 months and gotten older, so I wanted to make sure he was going to be competitive.
“People need to remember he’s four-years-old now and I’d hate them to be too hard on the dog.