Burridge's well-bred galloper finally Switches on

Michael Lee
Friday, March 06, 2009

Trainer Steven Burridge saddled up a double when two of his gallopers broke their Singapore maiden status on Friday night.

Two races after Chocolate Soldier opened his account at his sixth start in the $35,000 Class 5 Division 2 race (1000m), it was the turn of the “bred-in-the-purple” Switchblade to get off the mark at his new Singapore base.

The four-year-old by Fusaichi Pegasus out of the multiple-Group 1 (including the WS Cox Plate) winning mare Dane Ripper (x Danehill) had shown ability at his previous five starts but had failed to find the line, and was even labelled as “disappointing” at his last couple of runs by Burridge.

Switchblade (Din Azis) gets the better of Empire Crown (Saimee Jumaat) in
the concluding stages.

“He’s been pretty disappointing at his last two starts, but he was caught three wide and hanging a bit at his last run,” said Burridge.

“He’s done a very good job tonight considering the peculiar pace at which the race was run. In hindsight, the pace seems to have suited him, and he looks like he goes well on the Polytrack too.

“He hasn’t shown as much as his breeding would have suggested. He didn’t show that much zip but hopefully with time, it will come together.

“I don’t want to rush him and will take him through his grades, but he would definitely run the 2000m of the (Singapore) Derby (in July) on his ears.”

Switchblade jumped well to settle close to the lead but was again caught three to four deep, but always travelling well on the bit.

Race-leader Silent Account (Erasmus Aslam) set a dawdling pace in the $75,000 Kranji Stakes C (1900m) and got away with cheap sectionals until the 1000m mark when Empire Crown (Saimee Jumaat) was angled out to circumnavigate the field out wide in a bid to up the tempo.

By the home turn, Empire Crown was right on the hammer of Silent Account who was already sending signs of distress. Empire Crown shot clear while favourite Win In (Robbie Fradd) was plugging on on the rails but did not seem to be able to lift another gear, as he had done to good effect at his last two back-to-back wins.

It was however Switchblade who was descending the fastest on the outside. Empire Crown and Switchblade got locked into a royal battle down the last 50m which eventually saw Burridge’s protégé getting up close home by a neck.

“He’s a bit lazy and needs to be ridden really hard to get going. I threw everything at him in the last 50m and it paid off,” said Din Azis who has now partnered Switchblade to all but one of his starts.

Switchblade cost A$350,000 as a yearling and chalked up one win from 10 starts in Australia where he was prepared by Peter Snowden. He is now owned by the Arexevan Racing Stable, a group of Australian racing enthusiasts who always wear matching orange and blue-spotted ties whenever one of their horses is racing.

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