Following a 154-day break recovery period due to injury, the Alford Brown-conditioned I Realise made a successful return to competitive racing on Saturday, September 30, 2023.

Bred by Northern Giant out of the Royal Minister mare Regina Royale, I Realise narrowly held on in an exciting finish to the line in the third running of the Bridge 99FM Cup feature race travelling 7 ½ furlongs (1,500m). I Realise won by a short head over the fast-finishing and 99-1 long shot Rainsville (Javaniel Patterson) in the Overnight Allowance contest for three-year-olds and upwards horses.

I Realise didn’t appear to be stressed when he won in a time of 1:32.0, the fastest he has ever run over this distance.

“He [I Realise] hasn’t raced for so long and so I expected him to come back a little bit but he kept up his work and the result was a win,” Brown said in a post-race interview.

“The plan was to get a good break and put him in front because that’s the way he likes it. I was a bit worried in the last half-furlong of the race when he was coming back. I cannot train him too extensively because of the injury he developed from the last race and so we had to take it easy with him.

“He had a hairline fracture on the shin and so we had to take time with him. It was a good performance and this race should point him towards the next race,” Brown said.

I Realise broke off well at the start of the race and quickly assumed the lead ahead of Morimoto (Oshane Nugent) and Brinks (Omar Walker) leaving the intersection at the seven-furlong (1,400m) marker.

The four-year-old bay gelding maintained a steady gallop down the backstretch before upping the tempo navigating the half-mile (800m) turn.

I Realise came off the final bend with Morimoto applying pressure, but Foster got I Realise to change through gears in deep stretch and the Northern Giant offspring then began to pull away from the challenge.

Inside the final stages of the race Rainsville, who hugged the inside rails, after cutting the turn entering the drive came with a strong run, but he was unable to overhaul I Realise and had to settle for second money.

Morimoto finished in third place. The quarterly splits were of 23.4 x 46.4 x 1:11.0.