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Trainer Steven Burridge was glad Lim’s Royal redeemed himself with a winning turn in the $80,000 Class 3 Division 2 race over 1400m on Friday night.
The Australian handler, who has lost a bit of steam after topping the log in the first two months, said that the Rothesay four-year-old had not quite lived up to the lofty hopes connections had built up around him.
Lim's Royal stamped himself as a handy sort in the making at his first prep with three wins and two thirds from seven starts.
But as his ratings soared, he took on better company this year, but his form dipped at his three outings at Class 3 level, leaving Burridge scratching his head, even if they were not dismal failures at all.
Hopes were rekindled at his last run in a Class 3 Division 2 race over 1200m when he was held up for a run under Glen Boss, and still flew home for fourth to Paparazzi, who runs in the Group 1 Lion City Cup (1200m) next Saturday.
Lim's Royal ($22) was clearly back to his best when he was set alight on a long searching run from the rear by first-time partner Michael Rodd – who is not often seen in the navy blue and yellow silks of the champion owner.
The well-tried Chocolats (Barend Vorster) looked like he would finally land the chocolates at his eighth start when he rocked up at the 300m, but the resuming son of Fastnet Rock was probably undercooked as he soon got the staggers under pressure.
Black Jade (Olivier Placais) and Emergency Acceptor Life Is Gamble (Mohd Zaki) were next to pounce, but they could not match Lim’s Royal’s winning mood return.
That fourth win has now edged Lim’s Royal past the $160,000 mark in prizemoney haul for the Lim’s Stable.
In trying to get to the bottom of that sudden resurgence, Burridge said the rise to seven furlongs might have helped, but he remained guarded in his post-mortem.
“He’s been a bit disappointing this time in. We thought he’d be a nice four-year-old but he hasn’t quite lived up to those expectations,” said Burridge.
“At his last runs, he weakened out, but tonight, he ran well, maybe he liked the step-up to 1400m.
“Anyway, it’s good for the boss (Mr Lim Siah Mong of Lim’s Stable) to get another win. It’s also good for me, too, as I haven’t been winning very often lately.”
The 2010 Singapore champion trainer was the lamplighter till March 4 when his tally read 16 winners on the board. He then hit a speed bump – winning only five more races in the last two and a half months, so much so he has now dropped to sixth place, but still within striking distance (five winners behind) of current leader Shane Baertschiger who is on 26 winners.
