800th win beckons for Burridge

In terms of quality, it may not have been seen as a “glamour” meeting.

Classes 4 and 5, with a couple of “Maidens” tossed in to spice up the action.

But hey, for what it was worth, last Saturday’s racing threw up some good racing, tight finishes and a few nice numbers for the statisticians.

Racegoers had, before the action got under way, known where they were going to look.

At Manoel Nunes. He was their man.

Why not? The numbers told a story. The Brazilian was sitting on 1,996 winners and needed four to hit that magical 2,000. 

So, they looked his way – and Nunes played the part. Like a gunslinger from the Wild West, he went “bang, bang” with wins on Takhi in the opener and Flashfast in the next.

Wawasan gave him his 1,999th winner and Loving Babe brought up his 2,000th.

Then there was trainer Donna Logan. Out of the country to attend to personal matters, she was looking to breach the century mark for winners in Singapore.

She did not have to wait long.

Flashfast was seen as a racing certainty and he ran like a $7 favourite, beating his rivals with Nunes doing the steering.

Century, not out. Logan will now be batting for bigger numbers.

But all is not done. Two more milestones are waiting to be put to bed.

There is jockey Wong Chin Chuen who is two short of his 200th win and trainer Steven Burridge who needs just one more winner to hit that career-best mark of 800 winners.

Alas, Wong will have to wait another day to see that double century. He picked up a one-day suspension for a careless ride on St Alwyn in Race 10 on Saturday. Wong chose not to appeal and will sit out the action this weekend.

So that leaves us with Burridge.

Seventeen years on the job as a trainer, he has a thick resume. But, perhaps, the best story was when he saddled the aptly named King And King to win the Queen Elizabeth II Cup in 2006 – just a year into his role as a trainer.

Her Majesty was on hand to watch the race and it must have been a great honour for the-then 52-year-old to shake her hand.

That was something. Would it not be something else for the affable trainer if he saddles his 800th winner on Saturday?

The timing could not be better. Especially since Saturday’s the day all of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth celebrate the Queen’s platinum jubilee.

Well, he will have six chances to do so. That is how many horses he has running on the day.
However, they are spread over just four races in that 12-event programme.

That said, a couple, at least, look capable of giving Burridge that nice number.

But he will have to wait for late in the day.

Split Second, his runner in Race 9, is a top chance in a wide-open field.

For the first time in the 25-start career, he gets Nunes in the saddle. That, already, is worth a length or two.

Then there was that last run. Split Second was left for dead after messing up the start. But he came alive late on to run third to Laksana.

He remains in Class 5 – which is his “comfort zone”. So look out for something special.

Burridge saddles Ironchamp in Race 11 – the 1,200m sprint for Class 3 horses. He looks a lively chance.

He put in a big show last time out when finishing a close third to the talented Sky Eye. On that showing and having drawn Gate 2, he will run a huge race.

Huge enough to give former jockey now trainer, Burridge, his 800th career winner?

Why not?