Well-travelled gallopers Ultimate Focus and Keegan have settled well into racing life back in New Zealand for Ben and Ryan Foote, who will start the pair at Cambridge Synthetic on Wednesday.

A rising six-year-old, Keegan made his first public appearance at the trials in 2021 for Jim Collett before venturing to Hong Kong where he was unraced. The son of Swiss Ace returned to his homeland and the care of the Footes, who were thrilled to see him perform up to expectation winning a long-awaited debut in May.

“We’d hoped to see that from him as we’ve always thought very highly of this horse. He just had a couple of issues up in Hong Kong so he’s come back to us,” Ryan Foote said.

“He’s had a lot of progression mentally since he’s come back, he’s come a long way as he’s a pretty quirky individual but a cool horse to have in the stable.”

Keegan will line-up in a competitive Martin Collins New Zealand MAAT 1300 at the meeting, with a tidy trial victory over well-performed mare Pippy last Tuesday keeping him ticking over between runs.

“He’s got a wide draw (10) which will be a little bit iffy, but we think he’ll definitely run a race,” Foote said.

Stablemate Ultimate Focus also spent time in Hong Kong in the early stages of his career, before breaking maidens at Cambridge Synthetic in mid-2022 and heading across the Tasman to Australia.

Returning to New Zealand in the latter half of last year, Ultimate Focus has lived up to his name with his last three starts producing top-three finishes, all on the poly-track surface.

“His prep has been good, we had a little issue with him last start meaning we had to late scratch, but he’s gotten over that now and looks to be ready for Wednesday,” Foote said.

“We feel the step-up in distance won’t worry him too much, he’s got a good draw with a senior rider (Michael McNab) who knows him very well so he should be right in the finish.

“He’s one of the coolest horses we have, he’s so quiet and just a lovely animal to have around.”

The Smart Missile six-year-old will be joined by synthetic specialist Jimmy Dean in the Cambridge Equine Hospital 1550, with the latter eyeing the $100,000 special conditions race in a fortnight.

“He seems to have come up well this prep having two runs back, so he can have another at that 1550 distance with the main target in a couple of weeks, the special conditions race over 2000m,” Foote said. 

“He’s going nicely and will perform well on Wednesday.”