Putting his best Foote forward
Trainer’s summer team nearing return
Cambridge trainer Ben Foote is looking forward to the raceday return of Group 1 winner Travelling Light, her Group winning half-sister Vitesse Bo and speedy 3-year-old Babylon Berlin.
Foote was quick to pull the pin on a spring campaign with last season’s Group 1 Levin Classic (1600m) winner Travelling Light after the mare finished down the track in the Group 2 Foxbridge Plate (1200m) on her seasonal return.
That was the only occasion the daughter of El Roca had finished out of the money, as a winner of five of her eight starts, with a further two placings.
“We have just stepped her work up last week to a bit of half pace and she is heading towards the Westbury Classic [Group 2, 1400m] on Karaka Million night,” Foote said.
“There was a couple of different things not quite right in the spring and she seemed a little unsettled last time, but she is much better now.
“She is holding her condition very well now and I think it just took her a little bit longer to get over her 3-yearold season. I’m certainly confident going forward anyway.”
Foote expects Group 3 War Decree Stakes (1600m) winner Vitesse Bo to be most effective over ground this campaign.
“She is going to go straight to the Desert Gold Stakes [Group 3, 1600m] at the end of January,” Foote said. “We are targeting the Oaks [Group 1, 2400m) with her, unless we looked at the Derby [Group 1, 2400m].
“She is definitely a horse that wants to go over ground. Even in the Guineas, she got out-sprinted a little bit and found the tempo of the race a bit too slow.
“She needed a hard run race to suit her. I think the first half-dozen horses in the run, everything dropped out except for her, she came again at the line.
“Fresh over a mile in the Desert Gold, she will certainly be in it I think.”
Lightly-raced filly Bablyon Berlin is also nearing a return, with Foote to focus on short-course racing.
A winner on debut, Babylon Berlin finished third in the Group 3 Gold Trail Stakes (1200m) behind Miss Aotearoa and Sweet Anna at her second start but punctured when extended to 1400m when finishing fifth in the Group 3 Soliloquy Stakes.
An early target for the daughter of All Too Hard will be the Group 3 Cambridge Stud Almanzor Trophy (1200m) on Karaka Million night.
Foote will also have a pair of runners at Pukekohe today and has a good opinion of first starter Game Patrol, who steps out in a 1400m maiden.
Moneyripper will also represent the stable and is a late-bloomer, making his debut as a 5-year-old over 1600m.
Meanwhile, Foote is still coming to terms with the performance of Golden Sixty in winning the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile (1600m) in dominant fashion on Sunday — a horse he pinhooked as a yearling and prepared and sold as a Ready To Run horse in conjunction with good friend Sam Beatson of Riversley Park.
“I had goosebumps watching it,” he said. “It was a really massive thrill. I’ve taken it all in so far but the other night it hit me that those horses come along hardly ever.
“I texted Sam right away and it is big for us because we need to buy and sell horses like that.
“Going forward for us, it is massive, because without a doubt, he is the best horse to come out of the Ready To Run Sale, and there have been some pretty good ones.
“I only had him for a little bit early on but Sam always rated him highly. He was a very precocious type of horse. You couldn’t get up him too much, he had to do it himself.”