Neither are world beaters, but the Australian handler still welcomed any numbers that can boost a win tally that has struggled to take off this year.
On four winners before Saturday, with Split Second the latest picked up a month ago on April 24, Burridge has suddenly vaulted over six trainers (Leslie Khoo later passed him again with Charger taking the last) to now sit in 14th place.
With a string scaled back to only 25 horses and no top guns in the ranks, the road ahead is still long and arduous, but the likeable horseman will toast to the two wins.
“We’ve had a shocking run, but all we can do is just keep trying,” he said.
“It was a good day. It’s a change of luck for us.
“Look at Chalaza. It’s good for the stable and Julie as this horse is getting on at eight and hasn’t won for 1182 days!
Steven Burridge, racehorse trainer
“He’s sound and honest, and it was good to see him win again. We thought Red Rover would be hard to beat, not to mention my horse was three wide, but he won a nice race.”
The Road To Rock eight-year-old ($59) plotted a wide course smothered in midfield, but pinged beautifully under Wong Chin Chuen’s hard riding to go and reel in a rejuvenated Qaraat (ex Super Fortune) for a one-length victory.
Favourite Red Rover (Vlad Duric) somehow lost a couple of lengths midrace, but recovered in the home straight to take third place another 1 ½ lengths away. The winning time was 1min 11.61secs for the Polytrack 1200m.
Michael Lee, 29/05/2021