Debut win for new owners

Craig Brennan
Sunday, June 05, 2011

First time owner Swen Johnson could not have wished for a better start to his career as a horse owner when Pint Sized Prince took out the $65,000 Ninetyfive Emperor Stakes over 1200m on Sunday.

Johnson and fiancée Saraswati Tamanj only recently bought into Pint Sized Prince after seeing the gelding at the trials.

Jumping straight to the front, Pint Sized Prince, ridden by Ronnie Stewart, held on to record a short head win over Black Rain (John Powell) with Lucky Xuan (Oscar Chavez) two-and-a-half lengths away third.

Pint Sized Prince (Ronnie Stewart) on the rails holds off Black Rain (John Powell)
to score by a short head on the line.

Pint Sized Prince was purchased at the Magic Millions Ready To Run Sale last October by trainer Steven Burridge’s son Wade and it was a chance meeting between the new owners and the younger Burridge that led to Johnson taking ownership in the gelding.

“I have complete trust in the Burridge’s and Wade did a good job in finding this horse for us,” said Johnson.

“We also have full confidence in the training methods of Steven and we have seen the results come through here.

“This horse has got some real personality about him and hopefully he can go on and win some more races for us.

“Singapore racing is great and the Turf Club here has made a real impact on us since we decided to go into horse ownership.”

Burridge senior said it was a chance phone-call that led to Johnson buying into Pint Sized Prince.

“Swen just rang Wade up out of the blue,” said Burridge. “He came out to see the horse trial and liked what he saw and bought into the horse.

“It has been a good start all around.”

With all the rain that had fallen in the Kranji area on Sunday morning, Burridge didn’t go into the race with a lot of confidence.

“He had trialled OK and I thought it would bring him on but I was a bit worried about the track,” said Burridge.

“Luckily he had first go at the track and had drawn a good barrier. He also had no weight on his back, so he had a few things in his favour.”

For Stewart the win was a welcome change of luck. It was his first victory since scoring aboard All The Best back on April 8.

However Stewart spent eight meetings on the sidelines not long after through suspension and said he had found the going tough to get back into action.

Pint Size Prince is an Australian-bred two-year-old by Outback Prince from the Victory Note mare Moongambler and arrived in Singapore as an unraced gelding.