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A week in racing can be an extremely long time, just a week ago trainer Steven Burridge sent 21 runners to the races – five on the Friday night and 16 at last Sunday’s afternoon meeting.
Photo by Singapore Turf Club
At the end of the weekend of racing Burridge walked away with four winners and had jumped to fourth place on the Trainer’s Premiership table.
His sent out 11 winners for the month of February which was by far-and-away the best tally for the month. This was on top of just one winner he had in January which had Burridge frustrated with the number of second placings he prepared, which has now blown out to 17 for the year.
Fast forward to this weekend’s racing and the Burridge stable will saddle just three runners for the weekend – all on Sunday afternoon on the Polytrack.
He will be represented by Iluminado in the $75,000 Class 3 Stakes over 1700m, Gilt Lad in the $55,000 Class 4 Div. 2 Stakes over 1200m and Captain Obvious in the $125,000 Kranji Stakes A over 1200m.
Burridge said he wanted to make use of the turf track at last Sunday’s meeting before that track was put into recess for a month and added that he has a number of young horses that aren’t quite ready to make it to the racetrack as yet.
“Being the last meeting run on the turf for a month we wanted to give them a run,” said Burridge of his large numbers last week.
“That’s why we had a good numbers of horses running last week but also the races were more suitable for a lot of the horses.
“Horses like Sweet Lodge and Darien Gap, there wasn’t a lot coming up for them, so we ran them, got a win with Darien Gap, and now they can have a spell.
“A few of the other horses that raced have had a bit of racing so they can go and have a bit of a freshen up as well.
“It’s not that we didn’t want to run them all on the Polytrack, it’s just that they needed a bit of a break.
“We’re also educating a number of young horses at the moment, so numbers at the races in the coming weeks may be a little on the small side.
“We started off a little quiet but we’ve had a good last month and we’ve got some nice horses coming through.”
While numbers maybe small on the ground for Burridge this week he is hopeful of returning home with a winner.
Gallant grey Captain Obvious bounced back to form with a victory over 1400m in Kranji Stakes A company at his latest start when ridden by A’Isisuhairi Kasim (he rode in Australia and New Zealand as Harry Kasim) who again has the ride on Sunday and will take a 3kg claim into the race.
“He’s fit and well but this is a tougher race,” said Burridge. “But one thing with this horse is he’s adaptable.
“He looks well weighted after the claim for Harry. If he was to be ridden by a senior then you would say he’s probably not that well in, but Harry is riding well.
“While I would probably like it a bit further for him, this race is there for him, so really you can’t pick and choose.
“He’s been alright on the Polytrack before, but his last run on it was ordinary, but that was his first run back after Japan.
“We’ll see how he goes on Sunday and work out from there where to go with him.”
Burridge said he would consider the Singapore Sprint Series which comprises the Group 3 Merlion Trophy over 1200m on March 15, the Group 3 Kranji Sprint over 1200m on April 5 and the Group 1 Lion City Cup over 1200m on April 28.