A sparkling barrier trial on Tuesday morning should have Goal Keeper at the top of his game for the $125,000 Kranji Stakes A over 1200m on Friday.
Photo by Singapore Turf Club
Ridden by race jockey Danny Beasley in Tuesday’s trial, Goal Keeper scored a one-and-three-quarter length victory from Foxtrot Oscar (Joao Moreira) with Martincho Cat (Barend Vorster) a head away in third place in a time of 1 min 01.26 secs.
A winner at his last four starts, Goal Keeper will be joined in Friday’s race by his Theo Kieser-prepared stablemates Yin Xin and Dragon Spirit.
Goal Keeper returns to the turf surface after winning at his past three runs on the Polytrack.
At his last turf outing – back in February – Goal Keeper, with Olivier Placais on board, scored in Class 3 grade over 1200m.“He runs alright on the turf but he’s unbeaten on the Polytrack,” said Kieser.
“His trial today was good and it will bring him to his top. What I liked was to see him bouncing after the trial.
“That says to me that he is well.
“I haven’t got anything really in mind for him after Friday so we’ll take him along quietly, just step by step at this stage.
“We’ll see how he pulls up and take it from there.”
Beasley has ridden Goal Keeper in four of his 12 starts to date, registering three wins and a second on the son of Untouchable.
“Danny knows the horse well and they both get on well together,” said Kieser. “Danny gave me a good report after the trial so it’s all systems go.”
Kieser said he would look to the Polytrack following Friday’s race with Goal Keeper who is unbeaten on the synthetic surface in six races.
Goal Keeper returned from a little over three months away from the racetrack in downing El Milagro in a Benchmark 97 Stakes over 1200m on September 29.
Kieser believes stalemates Yin Xin and Dragon Spirit will both benefit from the outing on Friday.
Yin Xin hasn’t started since finishing fifth behind Mr Big in the Group 3 Garden City Trophy over 1200m on September 23 while Dragon Spirit will be having his first outing since finishing at the tail of the field in a Class 2 Handicap over 1200m on September 9.
“I would say Yin Xin would be about 80% at this stage,” said Kieser. “There are some nice races for him in November and December on the Polytrack.
“He’s at the stage where he needs a trial or a race to bring his fitness levels up, so I thought he could have a nice race here to bring him on.
“Dragon Spirit is in a similar situation and will get a lot of benefit with this run under him.”
