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Trainer
Steven Burridge has plans of international travel with former Malaysian
galloper Captain Obvious following his victory in the Group 3 $200,000
Jumbo Jet Trophy over 1400m on Sunday.
And he also
has plans of taking runner-up and fellow Malaysian Speed Baby abroad with
the Dubai carnival
next year firmly in his sights.
Captain
Obvious, ridden by Benny Woodworth, led throughout in scoring by a head
over Speed Baby (Saifudin Ismail) with Keep Away (Olivier Placais) a
length-and-a-half away third.
Trainer Steven Burridge saddles
a quinella in the Jumbo Jet Trophy as Captain
Obvious (Benny Woodworth) on the inside holds off Speed Baby
(Saifudin
Ismail).
Woodworth made full use of
the inside barrier draw of Captain Obvious by jumping him smartly from
the barriers and then driving him hard to the lead.
After 200m Captain Obvious
led by three lengths before Woodworth was able to get him to relax in
front and lead over Jamal Malik (Vlad Duric) with Best Knight (Danny
Beasley) and Better Than Ever (Saimee Jumaat) next in line.
Coming to the hometurn
Woodworth had a good hold of Captain Obvious at the head of affairs with
Jamal Malik and Best Knight breathing down his neck while Speed Baby had
crept forward to fourth place on the fence.
Turning for home Woodworth
kicked away to set up a winning three length break and although tiring
late he held on for a narrow victory over his stablemate.
¡°I didn¡¯t really care which of
the two won,¡± said Burridge. ¡°It
was a good result all-round for the stable with us getting the quinella.¡±
Burridge said he didn¡¯t give Woodworth any specific plans on Captain Obvious
as the jockey knows the horse so well having now ridden him to victory on
10 occasions.
¡°I just left all it to Benny,¡±
said Burridge. ¡°He knows the horse so well.
¡°The only thing I said was to take advantage of
barrier one which he certainly did.¡±
At his first outing since
joining Burridge¡¯s stable, Captain Ovious, ridden
by Saimee, finished sixth in the Group 3 Woodlands Handicap over 1200m on
the Polytrack after striking trouble close to home.
¡°He pleased me since his first-up and he had trimmed
up nicely,¡± said Burride.
¡°He¡¯s a high class horse and
longterm I¡¯m looking at going to Dubai with
both horses.
¡°I¡¯ve already spoken to the
owners of the horses and they are keen, so we¡¯ll
probably go over in January for the carnival.
¡°I¡¯ve got to thank K L Chong
for sending the horse down to me. I was an assistant trainer up in Malaysia for
eight years and got to know most of the trainers during my time up there.
¡°K L was going to send me one down a few years ago.
Free Spirit ended up staying up there and became a champion, so I¡¯m certainly glad to have this bloke in the stable.
¡°Hopefully both can keep their form going and prove up
to the mark in the bigger races coming up.¡±
Burridge said the Group 1
$500,000 Kranji Mile on October 2 was likely to be on the agenda for both
horses but he doubted whether the Group 1 $500,000 Raffles Cup over 1800m
on October 23 would be on Captain Obvious¡¯ plate.
¡°We¡¯ll most likely give both
of them the chance in the Kranji Mile,¡± said
Burridge. ¡°They are suited at the weight-for-age
but whether Captain Obvious can run out a strong mile, I¡¯m
just not sure.¡±
For the former
Singapore-based Woodworth it was a welcome change of luck in a feature
race.
Now based in Malaysia,
Woodworth was unable to make the trip to Singapore to
ride Captain Obvious when he made his debut in Singapore last
month as he was riding in a jockey¡¯s series in Korea.
Mr Chow, a representative from Milton Stable, flanked by trainer
Steven
Burridge and jockey Benny Woodworth at the prize presentation.
Woodworth has a great
affinity with Captain Obvious and will go almost anywhere to ride the
gelding.
¡°He has never let me down before,¡±
said Woodworth. ¡°I have never finished out of the
first three on him before.
¡°He¡¯s a very easy horse to
ride. He jumps keenly and needs to be ridden along to get him racing, but
will relax underneath you when you want him to.
¡°This was certainly a bigger test for the horse as the
form in Malaysia is
certainly not as strong as here in Singapore.
¡°But we were able to get a nice soft lead and then
kick on turning into the straight.
¡°He got a bit
tired which he always does late in the race, but luckily we were able to
hold on for a good strong win.¡±
Saifudin said he thought he could close the gap on the runner-up but the
winner was a shade too good.
¡°At the 100m, I thought I had a chance because I could see
the other horse (Captain Obvious) was stopping,¡± said Saifudin.
¡°My horse was running on very strongly and was very brave
but the winning post came too fast.¡±
An Australian-bred
six-year-old by Verglas from the Highest Honor mare Shathor, Captain
Obvious has now won 11 of his 17 starts and more than $2.1 million in
prizemoney.
Burridge
made it a double for the afternoon by claiming the final event on the
program, the $55,000 Victoria Harbour Handicap over 1400m with the Vlad
Duric ridden Peaceful Warrior.
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