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​Former Brisbane sprinter Excel N Strike remains unbeaten at Kranji as he doubled the dose at his second start when he led from pillar to post in the $95,000 Open Benchmark 83 race over 1200m on Friday.
Photo by Singapore Turf Club
The Steven Burridge-trained three-year-old by Exceed And Excel was stepping up in class following his half-length success in a Class 4 race over 1200m two weeks ago, but with a postage-stamp load of 50kg on his back in a small seven-horse field, he was rated an excellent chance as his $11 favourite tag suggested.
While he sat off the speed at his debut win, Excel N Strike was punched right out of his barrier No 5 by jockey Stephen Baster (who also rode him at his last win) to take up the running from the get-go.
The complexion of the race changed little until last-start winner My Son (Barend Vorster) came applying some pressure from the 800m by levelling up on his girth, but Baster was seen sitting motionless all the while.
Homeward-bound, the Australian jockey still had a lapful of horse while My Son was already flat out and not making much headway and Andiko (Saifudin Ismail) who had stalked up the speed in the box seat was not able to muster another kick either.
When Baster finally gave his horse a dig, the race was all over bar the shouting as Excel N Strike scooted clear to score by 1 ½ lengths from Andiko with My Son settling for third another head away. The winning time was 1min 12.03secs.
“He's done a good job. He had no weight on his back tonight,” said Burridge.
“It's good to see him win two from two, especially after the problems he gave us at the barriers. He was barred after he reared there in a race.
“He overraced a little tonight but Steve's done a good job to keep him balanced up.
“How far he'll go, I am not sure. We'll just take each race one step at a time.
“It's good for the bunch of owners who bought a share in the horse from Dato Yap (Raffles Racing).”
Baster said all credit should go to Burridge and his team for having mended the gelding's barrier manners.
“He reproduced his debut win. He just kept going and it's all credit to Steve and Darren Murphy, who has done a terrific job at the barriers with this horse,” said Baster.
“I remember he reared twice in the gates, once in a race and once in a trial. I thought this horse was in trouble, but they've done an amazing job to turn him around.
“I'm just lucky to be the jockey sitting on him when they got him ready.”
Excel N Strike now has four wins to his career record as he scored twice when known as Availability in Australia. He now races under the W Racing Stable banner and has already brought up earnings close to $80,000, which is almost double the A$42,450 he racked up in Australia.