High Noon shoots 'em down at debut

Michael Lee
Sunday, August 02, 2009

Debutant High Noon unleashed a spectacular finish to grab leader Touch Luck in the shadows of the post to score a thrilling head victory for trainer Steven Burridge on Sunday.

Well-tried at $19, the former Perth galloper, who was then owned by Tang Weng Fei who recently brought him over to Kranji to race under his Hydrocarbon Stable banner, looked a forlorn hope at the top of the straight as he was angled out to the outside by Saimee Jumaat, spotting Touch Luck about 10 lengths.

The Len Treloar-trained galloper with Ronnie Stewart up looked well clear at the 200m but Saimee did not give up and though High Noon was inclined to hang in in the concluding stages, he kept accelerating with his ears pinned back to score by a head on the line. Nikolay (Joao Moreira) won the battle for third spot, more than three lengths away.

The winning time for the $65,000 Initiation race over 1400m was 1min 23.6secs.

Saimee Jumaat brings up the treble on debut winner High Noon in Race 4 on
Sunday.

A proud Tang was leading in his second winner for the day, having earlier seen his other Jupiter Stable colours shine with another victorious newcomer, the ultra-impressive Better Than Ever.

“He had five starts for me when trained by Shane Edwards, who also prepares all my horses in Perth, and we thought he’d run well in Singapore,” said Tang.

“He ran in Listed company in Perth over middle distances. That’s why I told Steven he should go well first-up over 1400m.

“Fortunately it was over the Long Course. He got there on time.”

Burridge had at one stage pencilled in the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge for the son of Scenic, who used to race in Perth as Scenic Link, but retracted after his early work did not live up to his expectations.

“He was really plodding in his work and I thought he was just average then. I didn’t think he’d be up to the grade in the 3YO series,” said Burridge.

“(Former Kranji-based jockey) Peter Knuckey rang me up this morning. He rode the horse twice in Perth and he told me to be careful with him as he tends to hang in.

“But he’s done a good job today. He’s more of a middle-distance kind of horse and I think if he can stay, he’s got a future here.”

The win brought up the third leg of a wonderful four-timer for jockey Saimee Jumaat. The 2008 Singapore champion had earlier saluted aboard favourites Better Than Ever and Ace Amante before he got right on target again in the next race aboard another favourite, Intercept.

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