One of the top horses shipped from South-Africa to Mauritius during the break, Footy Goal (ex-Al Qaqaa) with a strong bloodline, is set to start next Saturday in the Three-Year-Old Championship. He will face a tough opposition coming from Break the Silence who already raced once at the Champ-de-Mars racecourse.
Originally named Al Qaqaa, the 3 year Old gelding was renamed Footy Goal after his arrival in Mauritius. This was done not to upset the locals as Al Qaqaa sounds like a swear word in the native Creole Mauritian language.
Bred by Shadwell Stud Australasia Ltd, New South Wales in Australia, Footy Goal was owned by the Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and trained by South Africa’s Top trainer, Mike de Kock. His Sire is the top-class stallion Medaglia D’Oro (USA). And he is out of the smart More Than Ready mare Haybah, who won the 2015 William Hill Cinderella Stakes and ran second in the G3 Blue Diamond Preview in Australia.
Third on his first outing, Footy Goal broke his maiden on his second run in the Social Distancing Maiden Plate (Colts & Geldings) (1400m) at Turffontein. He settled nicely for jockey Callan Murray in mid-field. When Murray asked the three-year-old gelding to quicken, Footy Goal showed a smart turn of foot and pulled clear of his chasing rivals. He doubled the score with a pillar-to-post on his last outing in South Africa over 1000m.
Footy Goal was purchased by Mauritian businessman, Jean Michel Lee Shim, and is now trained by Ricky Maingard. He showed some quality on the morning training sessions and he made significant progress the last two weeks. He is ready to strike on his first outing in Mauritius.
Gilbert Rousset’s trained gelding, Break The Silence will be a hard nut to crack. He won on his two last outings in South Africa over 100m and 1200m. He has already competed at the Champ-de-mars bagging an encouraging third place on the second race meeting over 1365m. He improved after that and he can upset the favourite.
Var’s Elusion is a promising young horse who has won once and finished in the money five times from his six races in South Africa. He started training in Mauritius a bit late and had only six gallops during the training sessions. He is the lightweight of the race which can prove to be a big factor at the end.
Take On Me is a decent sort with one win (1450m) and finish fourth once from his three outings in South Africa. He showed some pace and he will be well placed at the start with the plum draw 1 at the gates.
Selection: Footy Goal, BreaK The Silence, Var’s Elusion, Take On Me.
Tips
Race 1 – 1400m (0-20)
Dunzie – Newsman – Rochester – Northern Rebel
Race 2 – 1400m (0-26)
Yankee Force – Winter Guard – Intothemysthic – Manolete
Race 3 – 1500m (B41)
Paddingtons Luck – Memphis Mafia – Sea Dance – Viking Trail
Race 4 – 1500m (B51)
Big Voice Jack – Hubble – Seattle Kid – Captain Flynt
Race 5 – 990m (B56)
Huyssteen – Prince Of Persia – Prince Of Venice – Pop Icon
Race 7 – 1365m (B31)
Copenhagen – Master Jay – Jals Tiger – Nikhills Inn
Race 8 – 1600m (0-25)
Flowerscape – Crushing Force – Dreamforest – Mr Green Street
Banker: Huyssteen, Footy Goal
Value Bets: Big Voice Jack, Master Jay
Outsiders: Intothemysthic, Dreamforest
Videos
Footy Goal last trackwork
Break The Silence last trackwork
Break The Silence last race
