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While the
winning run in Dubai may have
come to an end for the Steven Burridge stable he still scored an early
double back home in Singapore on
Friday night.
Burridge was
in Dubai to saddle Ip Man in the Meydan Classic Trial over 1400m but the
gelding could only beat one runner to the line under Oscar Chavez.
Wife Julie
was left in charge of the team back home in Singapore and after winning the
$65,000 Initiation Stakes over 1400m with Shortcut they backed it up with
the short-priced favourite Shuttle Man in the $55,000 Class 4 Div. 1 Stakes
over 1400m.
Hot favourite
Shuttle Man (Joao Moreira) makes it two from two on Friday night.
Ridden by Joao Moreira,
Shuttle Man scored a comfortable three length victory over Dragon Spirit
(Soo Khoon Beng) with Bieber (Stephen Baster) running on for third, two
lengths away.
Moreira had Shuttle Man, who
returned a win dividend of $5.30, racing in third place to the hometurn
behind Dragon Spirit and Sir Fleetwood (Barend Vorster).
Rounding the turn Moreira
edged his way towards the centre of the course to unleash his finishing
effort.
Whereas on debut he quickly
put the race beyond doubt and raced away to a seven-and-a-half length
victory on January 13, Shuttle Man was made to work a little harder for
this victory.
Still he ran the time in 1 min
23.77 secs, 0.9 secs quicker than the previous quickest of the four races
run over the 1400m course.
“That was nice and
impressive,” said Julie Burridge. “He looked as though he got a bit lost
there for a while but I really liked the way he hit the line.
“It is the first time that he
has been really harassed in his work. He’s still got some growing to do but
he is developing into a very nice horse.
“He’s got as much potential as
any horse we have in the stable but if he didn’t win tonight then he would
still have gained from the experience.
“We haven’t been forced to
knock him around in his work to date and this win will do him the world of
good.”
Moreira echoed the thoughts of
Burridge and said Shuttle Man still had plenty to learn on the racetrack.
“He doesn’t know how to race
yet,” said Moreira. “He’s still very green but has a lot of ability.
“The track has some give in it
and there was a bit of kickback which he has to get used to.
“Steven and Julie have done an
excellent job with this horse, especially Julie who has done 100% of the
work with him.
“I think he is a really nice
horse and I hope to stay on him. I think he has a very good future.”
The win by Shuttle Man
provided Moreira with his third winner for the night having previously scored
aboard Danny in the opening race and then Social Network in the $35,000
Class 5 Div. 1 Stakes over 1400m.
A
three-year-old Japanese-bred by Taiki Spirit from the Sunday Silence mare
Sunday Kiss, Shuttle Man is raced by the Big Valley Stable – owners of
another Japanese-bred galloper El
Dorado, the winner of three of the past four
Singapore Gold Cups.
El Dorado is prepared by Japanese trainer Hideyuki Takaoka who
himself was not left out of Friday’s celebrations at the winner’s circle
with a winner in the last event of the nine-race programme - exciting
Australian-bred filly Better Life ($9) who kept her unbeaten run intact
with a third success in the $55,000 Class 4 Division 2 race over 1400m.
Ridden by comeback jockey Alan Munro, the Smarty Jones
three-year-old was originally caught wide midfield but gradually improved
to be within striking distance at the top of the straight.
The filly was still on the bridle at the 300m and once Munro
gave her her head, she just toyed with the opposition to win as she
pleased, scoring in a hand-canter by five lengths from Affirmation (Greg
Cheyne) with Foreign Exchange (Moreira) third another 1 ¾ lengths away. The
winning time was 1min 24.55secs.
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