10th meeting – The Mauritius Jockey Club Golden Jubilee Cup (1400m – 3 years old)
Footy Goal will seek revenge in the second leg of the 3 years old championship next Saturday at the Champ-de-mars racecourse. Winner of the first special race for young horses, Var’s Elusion, seems to have everything his way again with the best draw at the gates and the lightweight.
Var’s Elusion showed great gate speed on the first leg of the 3 years old championship over 990m on the 5th meeting. He held on gamely in the last part of the race to win. The Simon Jones’ trained gelding will still be a great threat over the 1400m on Saturday. It’s on this distance that he scored his only winner on his last outing in South Africa. Var’s Elusion will start from gate number 1 which will help him a lot in securing the lead easily. He also will carry 8 kg less than Footy Goal again.
Footy Goal will try to bounce back after being a well beaten favourite last time. The Racing Stewards (RS) questioned jockey Piere Corne Orffer and trainer Ricky Maingard about the handling of Michel Lee Shim owned horse as he was many lengths back at the 600m mark. We can read from the RS report that: “Jockey Orffer concluded by stating that in his opinion, had he asked more of an effort of his mount in the early stages, this gelding would not have been able to quicken as it did in the closing stages. Trainer Maingard concurred and added that under these circumstances he could not fault his jockeys ride. After consideration, the Stewards decided not to proceed other than to note their explanations”.
The handling of Footy Goal will be watched closely next Saturday as he will race over a longer trip and he is expected to finish strongly. Footy Goal is the best horse of the field and he can win easily if he is ridden as expected.
Break The Silence tried hard but was beaten by Var’s Elusion. He will have the blinkers on for the first time and he is the third best horse of the field. He will be right there and has his chances to win.
Syds Liason will be a decent outsider. He did not race in the first leg of the Championship, but he did very well on his two outings catching the third places.
Selection: Var’s Elusion – Footy Goal – Syds Liason – Break The Silence
Tips
Race 1 – 1500m (0-20)
Rochester – Seventh Silver – Time Is Gold – Valerin
Race 2 – 1850m (0-25)
West Coast Warrior – Mr Green Street – Eagles Vision – Starsky
Race 3 – 1365m (B36)
Walls Of Durovnik – Candle Cove – Gunner Runner – Bollinger
Race 4 – 1850m (B41)
Camp David – Moschino – Arlingtons Revenge – Italian Way
Race 5 – 1600m (B56)
Captain Flynt – Tsitsikamma Dance – Red Mars – Brilliant Disguise
Race 7 – 1500m (B31)
Kalgoorlie – Crazy Charlie – Copenhagen – Man From Seattle
Race 8 – 1400m (0-26)
Red Force One – Courtroom Magic – Cloud Seeder – Justinian
Bankers: Walls Of Dubrovnik – Kalgoorlie
Value Bets: Camp David – Captain Flynt
Outsiders: Justinian – Bollinger
