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Jockey Joao Moreira was at his brilliant best in producing Irish Coffee a narrow winner in the $75,000 Progress Stakes over 1200m on the Polytrack on Sunday.
Photo by Singapore Turf Club
The victory brought up a winning quartet for the champion jockey who has already ridden 57 winners in the opening two-and-a-half months of the season.
Moreira guided Irish Coffee to a slogging head victory over Let's See Action (Barend Vorster) with Humour Town (Ivaldo Santana) two lengths away third.
Moreira had Irish Coffee travelling in fourth position behind the speed which was set by Benji's Empire (Matt Kellady) and Winontop (Stephen Baster).
Coming to the hometurn Winontop was placed under pressure by Baster and was beginning to weaken and it was at this point that Moreira elected to make his move.
He swept up to hit the front narrowly soon after straightening and it was at this point that Let's See Action saw daylight and the pair then knuckled down to a two horse war.
It looked as though Let's See Action, which had enjoyed a quieter run on the fence, would prove too strong but he began to drift out under the whip and under Moreira's urgings responded to worry the runner-up out of the victory.
“That was a good win,” said Burridge.
“Joao made a decisive decision on the hometurn and then the horse showed good fight up the straight.
“I wasn't sure where we were at with him and I did think that whatever he did today that he would improve on.”
Burridge said he would have to sit down and look at the program ahead but he doubts the three-year-old will be a contender in the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge.
“He's come back well but I don't think we'll be running in the Three-Year-Old Challenge,” said Burridge.
“It was a good effort today but that is another rise in class. I'm not too sure where we'll go with him now but I'll have a look at the program and work something out.”
Burridge took Irish Coffee to Malaysia in December where he ran second in Group 3 company at Penang before returning to Singapore and was given a good break.
“He was a bit dry coated so we wanted to spell him in Malaysia but we had to bring him back here,” said Burridge.
“He had a good break for a couple of weeks and it looks like it has done him the world of good.”
A three-year-old by Oratorio from the Citidancer mare Irish Rumour, Irish Coffee was an A$100,000 purchase as a two-year-old and in his six starts he has won around $140,000 in prizemoney for connections.