Burridge sets aside foot injury to bookend meeting

Craig Brennan/Michael Lee
Friday, April 16, 2010

Trainer Steven Burridge had another good night out when he bookended Friday's meeting with yet another winning double, which will clearly erase the pain of a recent foot injury.

The current leading trainer opened proceedings with Benji's Glory, who was opening his account at Kranji, and waited till the last of the nine-race programme to wrap things up with the very consistent Happy Everybody.

Burridge put the pain of a cracked bone in his right foot behind him after Benji’s Glory took out the $65,000 Initiation Stakes over 1000m on the Polytrack.

Burridge suffered a cracked bone in his right foot when riding Benji’s Glory in a barrier trial back on April 8.

“He jumped awkwardly and I twisted my foot,” said Burridge. “Initially x-rays didn’t show anything, but I had an MRI scan yesterday and it showed up a crack.

Benji's Glory (Danny Beasley) gives his numerous backers few worries in Race
1 on Friday.

“There is nothing that can be done for it except rest, so I’ll just try and keep off it as much as possible.”

Ridden by Danny Beasley, Benji’s Glory scored a comfortable two length victory over Midlife Crisis (John Powell) with first starter Qui Est La (Joao Moreira) a length away third.

Following heavy run in the lead-up to the first race the maiden performers recorded a smart time of 59.21 seconds for the trip.

Burridge said he had sent Benji’s Glory up to the resting stables following his last run on February 26 for a couple of weeks to freshen up.

“He had disappointed me on a couple of occasions so hopefully this win will help him turn the corner,” said Burridge.

“He was over-racing last time, pulling hard and doing things wrong.

“We tried to ride him differently in his trial, but after jumping awkwardly he eventually switched off good.

“He did that again tonight and it was a good ride by Danny not allowing those outside him to cross him.

“We’ll just keep poking along with him, take him through his classes and hopefully pick up another race or two.”

The victory by Benji’s Glory was Burridge’s 30^th success for the season, giving him a comfortable six win lead over nearest rival Laurie Laxon with a healthy strike-rate in excess of 16%.

Benji’s Glory, a three-year-old Australian-bred by Untouchable from the Romeo mare Lover Punt, has the record of one win and three minor placings from his five outings to date and has now won around $65,000 in prizemoney for the Benjamin Racing No. 2 Stable.

Burridge bookended yet another successful meeting when one of his pet gallopers Happy Everybody again scored in the Lucky Last (he also kept the best for last at his last-start win).

Ridden by apprentice Ruzaini Supien in the $75,000 Kranji Stakes C-2 race over 1200m on Polytrack, the Commands five-year-old opened up a nice break upon straightening to romp home by two lengths from He's Born (Olivier Placais) with Otomodachi (John Powell) third another neck away.

Happy Everybody has been a lucrative investment for his owners, the Eight Eight One Stable. With that eighth success from 57 starts, Happy Everybody has brought in stakes past the $510,000 mark. The winning time was 1min 11.7secs.

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