Burridge treble a sure Hint of form regained

Michael Lee
Sunday, April 17, 2011

Trainer Steven Burridge had a good day at the office with a winning treble courtesy of Golden Lido, Hint and Shaolin Soldier on Sunday.

While the victory of $18 second favourite Golden Lido and $18 favourite Shaolin Soldier were more or less expected, Hint was a big question mark after he drew the second worst in the 14-horse field in the $55,000 Class 4 race over 1600m.

Hint (Vlad Duric) rallies strongly to take the measure of Solid Wood (John Powell) in Race 6.

But a vintage ride with a bit of ducking and weaving by leading jockey Vlad Duric went a long way in steering the son of Reset home, half a length ahead of a back-in-form Solid Wood (John Powell) with Van Bastern (Barend Vorster) third another head away.

The winning time was 1min 36.52secs.

Owned by the Arexevan Racing Stable, Hint has proven to be a useful moneyspinner. That fourth win from 24 starts has now swollen his stakes haul to more than $150,000 for the bunch of Australian expats behind the outfit.

But even Burridge was not too optimistic the chestnut gelding could prevail after drawing off the track.

“It’s a bit of a surprise as he had drawn so wide, but he’s come a bit more solid after he was gelded last year,” said the 2010 champion trainer.

“He had a bit of a rough passage but Vlad showed plenty of patience. It looked like he woulwas trouble in the home straight but luckily, he got the split at the right time.

“He went to Malaysia and he went on and off after that. But he’s been coming right at his last couple of runs and it’s great to see him winning today.”

Duric said the race was not exactly panning out the way he had wanted in the early stages, but the gelding’s fighting spirit saw him overcome a chequered passage.

“We were caught wide early, but then at the 700m a horse came along one off and checked us,” said Duric.

“That actually helped him come through to the inside and in the straight, after he got into the clear, he just sprinted away nicely.

“He’s a lovely and honest horse.”

Burridge could have been right back at the winner's circle in the next race which was also the feature race of the day, the $95,000 Aushorse Golden Horseshoe Preview (1200m), but Awakened who had Duric aboard, fell short by a nose to Kaiser (see another report).

Awakened looked slightly held up behind the eventual winner Kaiser at the top of the straight, and those few strides in a pocket proved costly in the end. Once he found the split, he dove right through to charge after the leader, but the winning post arrived a fraction too early for him and what would have been a terrific early treble for Burridge.

But the amiable handler got his just rewards in the lucky last when noted finisher Shaolin Soldier (x Exceed And Excel) wore down a brave Gustoriko (Nelito Cunha) in the $55,000 Class 4 race over 1200m to score by three parts of a length.

After a slow start to his 2011 campaign, Burridge is rising slowly but surely up the trainer’s log. The treble and the one winner (Unpickable) on Friday brings him to 21 wins to cut back the deficit on current leader Laurie Laxon to only two wins.

As for the unstoppable Duric, Shaolin Soldier's win brought up his fifth treble for the season, and extended his lead in the jockey's championship to 12 winners over Joao Moreira. Duric is now on 38 wins while the defending champion, who scored only one win on Sunday with Big Fortune in the first race, trails in second on 26 wins.