Burridge welcomes a change of luck

Craig Brennan
Monday, February 08, 2010

Trainer Steven Burridge and wife Julie welcomed a change of luck last Friday night that saw a record haul of five winners for the stable.

Just days prior Burridge had been lamenting the stables luck – read lack of it – that had seen a number of minor placings, but worse, injuries, that rocked the stable.

But in a matter of days it all turned around for the Burridge stable with five winners on Friday night and another on Sunday, giving the team six winners from the 21 races run over the weekend.

Benji's Pride, ridden by Vlad Duric, was one of five winner's for Steven Burridge
last Friday night.

Burridge went into Friday night’s meeting confident that he could pull off a win or two, but certainly didn’t dream of coming home with a bag of five which bettered his previous best of four set last August.

“I went to the races with eight runners on Friday night and I thought six of them had a chance,” said Burridge.

“But I’ve been confident like that before, however somewhere along the line something happens and I end up coming home with the tail between my legs – winless.

“It is a funny game. One minute you can be down and out and the next sky high.”

Burridge was hoping the confidence would overflow into Sunday where he also had a good team entered, but left with just one winner.

Benji’s Glory was looked upon by punters to keep the ball rolling for Burridge but let the side down while the trainer was far from disappointed with High Noon’s performance later in the day when also sent to the post as favourite.

Report For Duty ended the day for Burridge on the right note when he took out the final event on the program.

“Benji’s Glory disappointed me, but I’ll take the blinkers off and ride him back next time,” said Burridge.

“High Noon didn’t disappoint me in any way. I thought the place to be on Sunday was up on the speed which isn’t his style of racing

“The winner led throughout and kept going, but the important thing is my bloke pulled-up well from the run.

“Report For Glory did the right thing and ended off what was a pretty good weekend.”

And it happened at just the right time, a week prior was one that Burridge described as a week from hell.

It began when Kelvin’s Luck became cast in his box one night, fracturing his pelvis which unfortunately saw him humanely euthanaised. Soon after the last start winner Gold Help, a stable favourite, bolted on the roads around the stabling complex, slipped and hit his head on a pole, fracturing his skull, killing him instantly.

Burridge also had King’s Bridge fracture a cannon bone which required surgery while Promise Me Gold was sidelined with a tendon injury.

To rub salt into the wound he thought Benji’s Pride was a good hope of winning that week, January 29 (a week before he finally broke through) and had engaged apprentice Ruzaini Supien for the ride, only to be forced to change riders when a medical clearance didn’t come through for the young rider.

The start of February couldn’t come quickly enough for Burridge who has a team of 55 horses in work and the increase in numbers is starting to pay dividends for the former jockey who currently sits atop the Trainer’s Premiership Table with 11 winners.

A turning point for Burridge came late last year when the court case involving King And Kings and Dr Wang was finally wrapped up, taking a load of his mind.

“The court case had been hanging over my head for almost two years,” said Burridge. “A huge weight was lifted from our shoulders with the favourable outcome.

“That coupled with some nice young horses in the stable and I felt we were ready for a change of fortune.

“In this game you must have the turnover of horses coming through. If you lose one, you must be able to go out and replace it.”

To that extent Burridge’s son Wade has been a big help, finding suitable horses and new clients for the stable.

Report For Duty is one such example, a horse found on the Gold Coast in Australia as a two time winner and purchased by Burridge junior.

“The owner is a newcomer to racing,” said Burridge. “He had a horse with us that had a wind problem and never made it to the races and this was his replacement.

“The horse has done a good job so far and we’re hopeful of it continuing.

“The owners of Benji’s Pride and Benji’s Glory are also new owners with Wade finding horses for them.

“Five out of the six horses Wade has bought, either privately or at the Magic Millions, have gone on to be successful.

“But it is not just the new owners that have been a part of building my team. There are the loyal owners like Jupiter’s Stable, Lim’s Stable, Northwest Racing, Big Valley that have four or five with us all the time.

“They have been great supporters of mine and I’m looking forward to continued success with them.”

But most all Burridge said the biggest kick he got out of his success last weekend was that everyone in the stable enjoyed the results.

“The recent success has been good for everyone,” said Burridge. “For Julie and all the staff, it has been a good team effort.”

Burridge won’t be resting on his laurels come this weekend. He has 10 nominations for Friday night’s meeting and a further nine next Tuesday.

“When we didn’t have the (horse) numbers in the stable previously it was pretty hard having a good number of runners at each meeting,” said Burridge.

“But with 55 in work you can pick and choose when you want to run them, more so than being forced to.”

And with hard work comeshorse numbers and luck, just as Burridge found out last weekend.

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