Ben and Ryan Foote have enjoyed plenty of success with a pair of lightly raced older gallopers in Ultimate Focus (Smart Missile) and Keegan (NZ) (Swiss Ace), and they will both front-up as key hopes in the Richard Bright Memorial (1550m) at Cambridge Synthetic on Wednesday.
A seven-year-old by Smart Missile, Ultimate Focus has spent time racing in Hong Kong and Australia but has found his feet across the synthetic track season in New Zealand, recording two wins and three minor placings on his home course this preparation.
Most recently, Ultimate Focus chased valiantly behind a dominant Heart Of Gold in the $100,000 2000m contest last week, a performance that pleased Ben Foote considering his range is more suited to Wednesday’s distance.
“It was a good run, it’s probably not his best distance I don’t think but he hit the line well and was held up at a vital stage,” he said.
“He’s still run really well considering it was a track record too.
“He’s totally fine going into Wednesday, it’s only really like a track gallop going around there and he works there every day. It doesn’t bother any of them I don’t think.”
Younger stablemate Keegan kicked off his career as a five-year-old in May on a winning note, and he continued the unbeaten streak with a decisive display in MAAT conditions in late July.
“He’s just a pretty laidback dude, he does everything with ease,” Foote said.
“He’s yet to have a lot of pressure on him, so having a step-up in grade he should have a bit on him this time.
“It’ll be interesting to see how he goes, but he’s drawn a good barrier (3) anyway so he should get a nice soft run from the gate.”
The son of Swiss Ace trialled in New Zealand before spending some time in Hong Kong without making his debut, but Foote had plenty of faith in his ability based on feedback from trainer David Hall.
“He was in Hong Kong with David Hall and he thought he could win first-up at Sha Tin, so obviously if he expected that, he thought a bit of him,” Foote said.
“He told me just to get him fit and he’d win first up here anyway, David did all the hard yards.
“We get a few down from there, every now and then we get left with a couple and they become like stable pets. We turn over a lot of horses, so it’s quite nice to keep a few to race and the odd older horse around.”
The pair will be ridden by apprentice Triston Moodley and Jasmine Fawcett respectively, while Craig Grylls takes the reins aboard Jimmy Dean (NZ) (Tivaci) in the Pryde’s Easifeed 2000, who is searching for the form that carried him to four wins on the surface.
“He was pretty disappointing last week, sometimes I wonder whether his heart is really in it so he’s on his last chance,” Foote said.
“Dropping back to 65 grade, you’d expect him to be right in it, but in saying that if he doesn’t front up he’ll more than likely be retired.”
