Trainer Steven Burridge achieved a rare feat in racing when he saddled the two dead-heaters in Race 6 on Sunday.
Both gallopers hit the line locked together with the judge not able to split his two runners Joyous Express and Goliath in the $75,000 Kranji Stakes C race over 1700m.
Both gallopers launched their runs from the top of the straight in a bid to reel in race-leader Greenstone (A'Isisuhairi Kasim), with Goliath (Corey Brown) coursing out the widest from the 800m.
With the benefit of an easier run, Joyous Express (Manoel Nunes) was shaping up as the conveyance with a little bit more petrol left in the tank, as Goliath seemed to peak on his run at the 200m.
But with Brown keeping his mount running into the ground, the duelling stablemates finished locked together on the line. With the naked eye, Joyous Express on the inside gave the impression to have just edged out Goliath, but the photo finish showed they had shared the spoils to the sheer delight of the Burridge camp.
The winning time was 1min 44.77secs. With their winning payouts halved as a result of the dead-heat, both winners coincidentally returned $10 for their wins.
“That is the perfect result, isn’t it,” said Burridge. “Both owners will be happy. They both won.
“Dead-heats don’t happen every day and to have both by the same trainer is even rarer. I’m pretty stoked with that.
“To be honest, I thought there was nothing between the two before the race and that’s exactly how it ended up.
“Goliath was stepping up from 1000m to 1700m, and I thought that last run would really help. He actually worked better than Joyous Express going into the race.
“In saying this, Joyous Express is not a flash worker and it was also his first time stepping up to 1700m, but he’s been such a good consistent horse for us.”
Between the two riders, Nunes was the one who was the showing the greater confidence he would be the solitary winner on the line.
“I thought it was very close, but I thought I’d won,” said the Brazilian jockey. “In the end, it was a dead-heat and I have to be happy with that. It’s better than second.
“He’s a big horse and always tries his best. Steven has done a great job to keep him in good form.
“He was going over 1700m for the first time, but he tried hard again, no matter what track he’s on. I’m very happy he’s won again.”
Joyous Express, a four-year-old by Danehill Express, was at his fourth win (three for Nunes and the first scored with Joao Moreira up) from only 19 runs for the Omni Stable for stakes earnings inching close to the $200,000 mark.
Brown said he felt Goliath was a good thing as he circled the field with a sweeping run, but momentarily thought he may have jumped the gun when he seemed to fall half-a-head behind Joyous Express.
“I thought we got to him (Joyous Express) at the 200m, but then the other horse got another half-a-head in front of us,” said the Australian hoop.
“But then I had his head stretched right on the line and that was when I thought maybe we were able to get the bob.
“I thought if he had lost, he would have been a bit stiff as he had to do it tough four wide coming off the back.”
Owned by Jupiter Stable, Goliath, a four-year-old by Darci Brahma, has now registered four wins from 15 runs for stakes earnings in excess of $175,000.
