From: Julie Burridge nee Barnicott [jbarnicott@hotmail.com]

Sent: Sunday, 6 February 2011 3:50 PM

To: AB Robert Moller AB Robert Moller

Subject: update

Back on the dry perfect for Mr Raffles

Craig Brennan
Friday, February 04, 2011

Lightly-raced galloper Mr Raffles ran his rivals ragged with his victory in the $95,000 Hong Bao Handicap over 1400m on Friday.

Leading from the outset, Mr Raffles, ridden by Vlad Duric, led throughout in scoring a three-quarter length victory over Flying West (Sean Cormack) with Black Ice (Ronnie Stewart) a head away third.

Mr Raffles landed his fourth win in eight starts since arriving in Singapore where he is trained by Steven Burridge.

Mr Raffles (Vlad Duric) returns to winning ways in the Hong Bao Handicap.

After winning three of his first four starts, Mr Raffles seemed to lose his way with a third placing before two unplaced efforts which had Burridge rethinking his plans with the gelding.

Burridge gave Mr Raffles two runs on the Polytrack in the belief the surface would suit the gelding where he had plans to head to Dubai for some of the lesser races over the carnival.

“I think getting back on the dry track today really helped him,” said Burridge.

“I really thought he would be suited on the Polytrack and that’s why we thought Dubai could be an option for him.

“But after two runs on the Polytrack he showed he wasn’t happy on it and then he struck a wet track last time.

“We went back to the drawing board with him a bit and luckily today we got a dry track for him.”

Burridge said as Mr Raffles rose in class he appreciated the drop in weight and that was evident with his performance leading throughout on Friday.

The trainer added that Mr Raffles had to work at both ends of the race to land the victory.

“Vlad had to use him up a bit to first clear Flying West and then clear Lamborghini Flame,” said Burridge.

“He may have gone a fraction too hard early which did concern me a bit, but he then came back and settled quite well.

“He showed a good kick and I’m glad to see him back in form.”

Burridge almost pulled off the quinella when Black Ice flashed home late to finish third after being held-up in the straight.

Duric brought up a winning double having won earlier in the day aboard Mr Gee and said he got a lot of satisfaction from the win of Mr Raffles.

“Getting back on top of the ground helped him today,” said Duric. “He’s got a good action and he was able to use that today.

“He had to do a bit of work early but then when he did get across he got a couple of easy sections which helped him at the finish.

“He hasn’t done a lot of racing so far and I still think there is improvement to come from him.”

A five-year-old New Zealand-bred by Storm Creek from the Foxbay mare Force Fillee, Mr Raffles took his prizemoney to around $183,000 for Raffles Racing.