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It was all about the Bruce Marsh and Zuriman Zulkifli show on Sunday when the successful partnership combined to take the training and riding honours with a winning treble.
Carrying on the red-hot form shown with the recent deeds of Knight’s Command which culminated into a Group 3 win in the Admiralty Classic Stakes last Sunday, the master and apprentice team joined forces for a hat-trick of wins this time, beginning the good day at the office with veteran galloper Daad’s The Way in Race 5, followed with a race-to-race double with Stanzout in the next race before they completed the rout with Supernova two events later in the $100,000 Open Benchmark 89 race over 1400m.
The bountiful haul has given both Marsh and Zuriman a major boost in their respective leaderboards. Starting the day in 13th spot on 14 wins, the Kiwi trainer has leapfrogged over four trainers, Sam Chua, Michael Clements, Desmond Koh and Shane Baertschiger to now sit in ninth spot on the trainer’s premiership on 17 winners while Zuriman was on his part savouring his first career treble, to bring up his tally to 10 wins (nine scored for Marsh), right on the heels of the leading trio of Noh Senari (15 wins), A’Isisuhairi Kasim (14 wins) and Shafiq Rizuan (12 wins) on the apprentice log.
Pleased with the yard’s prolific run in recent months, Marsh did not have just the young rider to thank, but two other “young minds” who recently joined his yard, assistant-trainers Gabriel Hessian and Lisa O’Shea.
The two New Zealanders only began their Singapore stint about a month ago to fill in the void left by Marsh’s former assistant Mark Sims and were already collecting the fruits of their labour – a Group 3 win and a treble.
“I’ve known Gabe and Lisa for a long time. They are good friends with my son Stephen (himself a New Zealand trainer),” said Marsh.
“Stephen recommended them to come up and work for me, and I’m glad they’ve both fitted right in.
“It’s good to have young minds at the stable. They have new ideas which I don’t mind listening to.
“Gabe is an experienced horseman who also worked as a barrier handler while Lisa has her own trainer’s licence. She also rides trackwork, but she’s only been working on the ground here and has yet to ride.
“The stable is in good form and I can only hope it keeps rolling.”
Marsh said Zuriman does not receive the due recognition he deserves, and he was only too happy to be the one providing him a leg-up whenever he gets a chance.
“The boy was riding well even before he won his first feature race but it was definitely a boost for him,” said Marsh.
“He’s such a hard worker and has improved so much. I’m really rapt for him as he’s been tossed around a bit, owners don’t want to put him on and all that, but he’s proven he can do the job when he gets on a good horse.
“Like today, Supernova was clearly headed by Holy Warrior, but the kid allowed his horse to find his rhythm and he drove him home very well.”
Marsh said backing up the Elusive City five-year-old one week after last Sunday’s closing second to Hard Stuff was not ideal, but it has worked out well in the end.
“I had no doubt he could win over 1400m as he’s run once over that trip before and ran second,” he said.
“I was not too happy to back him up, but that was the only 1400m race coming up.
“But he’s held his condition well and he’s such a tough horse. He will probably step up to the mile at some stage.”
Zuriman said he knew he had some nice rides on Sunday, but did not think he could ride three winners.“The boss gave me some nice rides today. After I finished second on Assertive Lad, I thought I would have another one of those days, but then Daad’s The Way won and that gave me confidence,” said Zuriman.
“I would like to thank the boss for giving me the opportunity to ride good horses.”
Daad’s The Way’s fighting three-quarter length victory in the $60,000 Class 4 race over 1600m on the Polytrack – his eighth career victory from 78 starts – certainly pleased his trainer as well.
Marsh said the conditions were perfect for the eight-year-old son of Istidaad, whose record for races over the mile on the all-weather surface has been exemplary. He has finished outside the top-three just six times from 20 starts and Sunday’s win was his sixth.
“He’s such a good and honest horse who battles all the time and is just fantastic over the mile though strangely not so when he goes over 1700m,” said Marsh.
“It wasn’t really a strong field out there today. He was the best horse but because of the wide barrier (gate 12), he had to go back and run with cover. But that actually played to our advantage as he runs very well from a wide position.”