Trainer Theo Kieser is hoping his flagship horse Goal Keeper will keep his improving fortunes on the up in the $125,000 Luzerne Cup (1200m) on Friday night.
The lightly-raced moneyspinner with more than $600,000 in stakes earnings is targeting an 11th win in only 20 starts, which includes an unplaced effort in the Group 1 KrisFlyer International Sprint (1200m) last May.
Bidding for a three-in-a-row at his last start when sent as the even-money favourite in the Group 3 Garden City Trophy (1200m) on September 15, he looked set for victory until $308 pop Trudeau dashed past to thwart his plans.
Freshened up since, the Untouchable five-year-old resumes with the steadier of 59.5kg slapped on his back for Friday’s assignment, which has again been handed to regular partner Danny Beasley.
Kieser conceded the heavy impost was a concern, but he was confident Goal Keeper's battling qualities will help overcome it and get him back in the winner’s circle.
“He’s been a great horse to me and his owners. He has been really consistent from Day 1,” said the South African handler.
“He’s an absolute pleasure to train and is going good at the moment. His worst race was probably in the KrisFlyer, but you can ignore that run as he was under pressure from John O’Hara’s horse (Emerald Hill) early.
“He got run down at his last start, but he still ran to form. I wasn’t disappointed at all with his effort, though I was of course disappointed he didn’t win.
“I’ve kept him fresh and he’s in good condition going into the race. I’m only worried about the weight.”
Goal Keeper heads the handicap in a small but select field made up of the Patrick Shaw trio of Davide, Valevole and Let’s See Action as well as the back-in-form Rapido Star for Leticia Dragon.
“It’s not a big field. Even if he draws a bad barrier, I’m not too worried as he has such tremendous pace,” said Kieser.
“Danny will ride him as he’s a difficult horse to ride. He lays in in the straight, and that’s why I prefer to keep a senior rider on even if he’s got a big weight on his back.”
After a prolific season in 2012 when he struck a five-in-a-row, Goal Keeper has been running up against tougher cattle this term, not to mention the likes of Lucky Nine and Super Easy in the KrisFlyer, but still scored twice - a drop in pace mirrored by his trainer’s own performance.
With only 17 winners clocked in this year, Kieser is lagging behind his score of 25 winners at this time last year, before he went on to net a final haul of 29 winners, a relatively low score which, however, represented the second-best strike rate (13%) after Michael Freedman’s (17.16%). Kieser had to wait until March for his 2013 ice-breaker, Rappor, followed soon after by a regular stream of winners that peaked in June-July before slumping again to a trough, only to spike again in the last four weeks with four winners that brought his score to 17.
Reputed for his dab hand with two-year-olds, Laurie Laxon’s former assistant-trainer said the massive rejuvenation process his stable has undergone was still work in progress.
“We’ve picked up the pace a bit, but it’s still a bit slow,” he said.
“I had to get rid of a few horses to make room for 14 young horses coming in. One is in quarantine, while five or six will come in November and the rest in December and January.
“The rebuilding of my team has started last year and it’s probably not until 2014 that we will see the full impact.”
While his juveniles headed by Rappor, Mexborough Boy and Rikioh have brought up a decent record of five wins between them, Kieser has relied more on the older guard to beef up his score. One ageing galloper who recently joined his team is 2011 Group 2 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2000m) winner Fatkid, who has been battling to regain his sparkle of old.
Previously prepared by trainer Tan Hor Khoon, the Handsome Ransom seven-year-old has actually not scored in 19 subsequent starts after that QEII triumph, with his last run being in the Group 3 Causeway Classic Stakes (1800m) last August when he beat one home.
Kieser is not holding his breath as Fatkid makes his debut for him in Sunday’s $95,000 Open Benchmark 89 race over 1400m, but he hopes he can still rekindle some form in the veteran campaigner at some stage.
“The owner wanted a change of environment, but the horse has had a lot of problems and is not young anymore,” said Kieser.
“He’s not 100% fit and is still underdone, but he’s going okay. We’ll give him a run this Sunday and see how he handles that.”
