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Trainer
Steven Burridge missed seeing the victory of one of his stable favourites
Happy Everybody in the $95,000 Open Benchmark 89 Stakes over 1000m on
Friday night.
Burridge has
returned to Australia where he is to become a grandfather for the first
time.
Wife Julie
explained that his daughter from his first marriage was expecting her first
child and that Burridge was excited at the prospects of becoming a proud
grandparent.
Happy Everybody (Muhd Firdaus), on the
inside, fights back to get the better
of
favourite Northern Lion (Joao Moreira).
She described Happy Everybody
as one of the stable favourites and wasn¡¯t
surprised at the gelding¡¯s upset win.
Ridden by 4kg claiming
apprentice Muhd (Freddie) Firdaus, Happy Everybody led almost throughout in
scoring by a nose over Northern Lion (Joao Moreira) with Howgoodisthat
(Danny Beasley) three-and-a-half lengths away third.
Both Burridge and stable
employee Peter Gillman were both high in their praise for how Firdaus
handled Happy Everybody.
¡°Before the race I labeled him Freddie Dettori,¡± said Gillman. ¡°He¡¯s got a great worth ethic and is improving all the time.¡±
¡°It was a fantastic ride,¡± said
Burridge. ¡°His 4kg claim was the winning factor.
¡°When you are up against Moreira you have to find
everything you can and luckily tonight Freddie was able to get the best
from him.¡±
Burridge said Happy Everybody
was a stable favourite and that she wished there were more like him in
their stable.
¡°He just gives his all everytime he steps out,¡± she said. ¡°Everyone in the
stable loves him and I would certainly love more like him.¡±
Happy Everybody, a six-year-old son of Commands from the
Spartacus mare Induct, recorded his 10th win from his 63 starts
and took his prizemoney past the $600,000 mark for the Eight Eight One
Stable with Friday night¡¯s victory.
The Burridge stable made it a double for the night when Unpickable took out
the final event of the night - the $55,000 Class 4 Stakes over 1000m
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