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Pitstop has claimed the final leg of the S$325,000 Group 2 Aushorse Golden Horseshoe (1200m) for two-year-olds by the barest of margins at Kranji on Friday night, picking up a $135,000 bonus in the process.
Photo by Racing and Sports
The Steven Burridge-trained and owned galloper had only started once previously, when running second in the Juvenile Stakes (1200m) here almost three weeks ago, only narrowly beaten by Yin Jie.
Pitstop, who was ridden by Ismael Azhar jumped from barrier 2 and found himself sitting around midfield on the fence, with Easy Man and favourite Super Good up on the speed early.
Easy Man looked set to lead from start to finish before Pitstop weaved his way through the field and proved too strong over the concluding stages to run out a narrow winner over Easy Man in second with Hogwarts Express running on strongly for third.
“It was a bulldog effort, he rode him beautifully. I told him to ride for luck,” said Burridge.
“It is especially sweet as my son Wade bought the horse for us. For him to come out with an interrupted preparation and win is great,” he added.
“I would like to thank all the stable staff and I would like to thank especially Darren Murphy. Darren broke his leg here the other day and he has been riding him all the way through and I really feel for him.
“He has been in a lot of pain and I rang him tonight and said that I thought we could get the money. He said he hoped we could and a big thank you to Darren, and to Wade. He had a good opinion of the horse when he bought it.
“I have had a bit of luck with Azhar and I have been using him since 1989 when he was an apprentice and I was not much older,” he said.
An emotional Wade Burridge commented that he had been struck by how professional Pitstop had been at the 2011 Magic Millions Horses In Training Sale where he signed for the Zizou gelding out of the Al Hareb mare Pottinger for A$21,000.