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Off the radar since winning a race back in March despite suffering a bad leg injury in the running, Moritz Eclipse is making his racing comeback this Friday.
The son of Darci Brahma returned to the stables with a deep gash to the tendon sheath of his off-hind after winning the Class 3 Division 2 race over 1200m. In disbelief how his ward overcame the pain barrier to still punch through the line, trainer Steven Burridge was at the same time gutted such a useful sort would be on the sidelines for a while.
Five months later, Moritz Eclipse will be back racing in the $80,000 Class 3 race over 1100m, and looking and feeling as good as new, with the Australian handler just hoping the six-year-old will come through that first run after his injury-enforced layoff without a hitch.
“He got galloped on during that race. He came back with the tendon sheath to his back leg badly cut,” said Burridge.
“He raced through the pain to still win the race, which was pretty amazing. That to me is a sign of a good horse.
“He had a cast on the injured leg for six weeks and we’ve slowly brought him back after he fully recovered.
“It’s going to be his first run this Friday, and Harry (A’Isisuhairi Kasim), who won on him at his last start, will ride him again. He knows the horse well as he rode him at all his four wins.”
Burridge is pairing Moritz Eclipse up with another “Eclipse” horse in Friday’s race, Mark Eclipse, who will be second-up and will be ridden by John Powell.
Also a winner of four races, the Nicconi six-year-old resumed from a seven-month break in a Class 3 race over 1200m on Polytrack on August 10, and was well beaten by Eye Guy, well in need of that run.
“Mark Eclipse had the one run back and hopefully can run an improved race this time,” said Burridge.
“It’s great to have both horses back racing for Mr Iman Hartono, their Indonesian owner. He has been a great supporter of mine for a while now.
“He’s been very patient with both horses and we can only hope they both run well, and continue to progress from there.”
It’s doubtful A’Isisuhairi will be as conservative as his former master with regards to Moritz Eclipse. He needs a win a bit more badly.
The former two-time Singapore champion apprentice jockey is going through his worst season by far, in stark contrast to what kicked off as a flying start. After three wins racked up in the first week of the season in January, including the Group 3 New Year Cup (1200m) with Speedy Dragon, A’Isisuhairi has seen his record frozen at four winners - and by coincidence, since that same Moritz Eclipse win in March.
“I galloped him some time back and he seemed all right. Everything seems to be going okay,” said A’Isisuhairi.
“He was my last winner and it’s nice to see him back in action this Friday, more so when I get to jump back on him. I have another ride on that night, Redoubt for Lee Freedman.
“I’m actually riding a lot of work for Lee these days. He has a bigger team and I’m hoping with his support, I can get my name back up.”
A’Isisuhairi will, however, have to wait till the final scratchings on Friday to know if he will have two rides. Redoubt, whose form has been rather poor of late, is the first Emergency in the Class 4 Non Premier race over 1600m.