Burridge on the ball with treble

Craig Brennan
Sunday, April 18, 2010

Trainer Steven Burridge consolidated his place on top of the Trainer’s Premiership Table with another treble on Sunday.

Following a double on Friday night and Sunday’s three winners, Burridge has prepared 34 winners for the season and holds a nine win lead over six-time premiership winner Laurie Laxon.

Burridge got the ball rolling with Sonic in the $55,000 Class 4 Div. 2 Stakes over 1400m on the turf before Touch Luck took out the $55,000 Class 4 Stakes over 1200m on the Polytrack. He then signed off his treble with Dynamic Dan in the last race, the $55,000 Class 4 Division 3 race over 1400m.

Sonic gives South African jockey Sean Cormack an easy victory in Race 3 on Sunday.

The trainer was unlucky not to have prepared a four-timer when As Good As It Gets was narrowly defeated in the $65,000 Graduation Stakes over 1400m.

Punters didn’t forget to support Sonic who was punted down to $19 before his success after Burridge added blinkers to his gear.

Ridden by South African jockey Sean Cormack, Sonic scored a two-and-a-half length victory over Street Legal (Soo Khoon Beng) with Street Ruffian (Mark Gallagher) a short-head away third.

Cormack had Sonic quickly out of the barriers where he was able to cross and find the lead from gate 10 in the early stages before taking the sit in third place behind Nadal (Alan Ng) and Day Of Empire (Mark Ewe).

Soon after turning for home Cormack shot Sonic up on the fence where he quickly opened up a winning break on his rivals, holding them comfortably to the line.

Sonic, who recorded his sixth career win, ran the 1400m journey in 1 min 22.61 secs on the good rated track.

Burridge revealed that Sonic had been racing “without zest” and it was for this reason that he reapplied blinkers to the gelding’s gear.

“He lost his rider (Matt Kellady) two starts back then got sandwiched at the start with Vlad (Duric) on him last time and he didn’t run on,” said Burridge.

Jockey Olivier Placais (purple cap) lifts Touch Luck over the line in Race 6.

“I had to do something, so I put the blinkers back on him, but I must say I was a little surprised at what price he was.

“I thought he would have been closer to $50, but anyway he’s won and I’m happy to keep training winners.”

Sonic, a five-year-old Australian-bred gelding by Tale Of The Cat from the Green Desert mare Manu, topped the $200,000 mark for Lim’s Stable with his victory on Sunday.

Touch Luck, a relative newcomer to the Burridge stable, surprised the trainer with his narrow victory.

Ridden by Olivier Placais, Touch Luck scored by a head over South Star (Saimee Jumaat) with Jewel Princess (Ronnie Stewart) a nose away third.

Touch Luck has only been in Burridge’s care for around four weeks – having previously been prepared by Len Treloar – and was having his second run for the stable.

“He ran over 1400m first-up and disappointed me,” said Burridge. “I wasn’t sure what to expect with him today, but getting back onto the Polytrack was obviously to his liking.”

Touch Luck registered his third win from 14 starts with Sunday’s win and the three-year-old son of Fusaichi Pegasus from the Western Symphony mare Yellow And Black took his prizemoney to around $160,000 for the Hippocrates Stable.

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