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The much-improved Xzuberance scored a smart all-the-way win at his first attempt over 1800m in the $60,000 Class 4 race on Friday.
The Steven Burridge-trained gelding was stepping up in distance after a promising second over the mile at his last start on August 9, when he nearly made all only to be pegged back late by Singapore Gold Cup hopeful Imperial March.
He elected to go with the same frontrunning tactics, but there was to be no-one sneaking up to catch him this time. A’Isisuhairi speared Xzuberance over from his wide draw (No 9) to take up the running coming off the first turn, and from that point onwards, the $18 favourite dictated matters at his own leisure, though he did have Lika Tiger (Brad Parnham) nipping at his heels and Slayer (Alan Munro) not far away on his outside.
Inside the final home straight, Xzuberance gave another kick and said "catch me if you can". Slayer was the only one who could threaten to spoil the Premier party as he continued his assault on the four-year-old son of Henrythenavigator and although he made up some ground, he just could not run him down.
Xzuberance went on to score by three parts of a length from Slayer. King Savinsky (Mohd Firdaus) ran third a further one-and-a-quarter lengths away. The winning time was 1min 51.94secs for the 1800m on the Polytrack.
On a day when the Premier Racing Stable and their guests were present in full force at their F1 cocktail party, Burridge was glad that they got to witness another one of their gallopers returning a winner after Marine Treasure saluted in the previous race.
“Congratulations to Premier Racing and I’m so proud of my son Wade for organising tonight’s get-together,” said the Australian handler.
“I’m happy with his (Xzuberance) first effort over 1800m. He ran second the last time when he ran over 1600m and he stepped it right up tonight.
“Harry did a good job and I’m proud of him.”
A’Isisuhairi, who closed off last Sunday’s meeting with a riding double, was happy to get another win on the board and believes the confidence boost from his recent wins will put him in good stead for the rest of the year.
“When you visit the winner’s circle more often, you will start to get confident,” said the two-time Singapore champion apprentice jockey, who is, however, trailing Shafiq Rizuan in second place this year.
“I had four rides today, all for my boss, but one got scratched. But to get another win today, it is all thanks to my boss.
“I knew he (Xzuberance) had until the first furlong to get across (from the wide draw) and once he hit the front, no-one challenged him.
“Hopefully with more wins like tonight, I’ll be able to pick up more rides to move towards my target of 30 wins for the year.”
With this win, Xzuberance has brought home stakes earnings close to $100,000 for the Premier Racing Stable.
