Tough galloper Goliath cemented his status as an out-and-out Polytrack specialist when he bounced back from his last-start ordinary run on turf to land the $95,000 Open Benchmark 83 race (1800m) on the alternative track on Sunday.
The well-named hulking gelding, whose previous five wins were all recorded on Polytrack, was never in doubt once he was driven to the lead by regular partner Corey Brown at the top of the straight after travelling one-off in midfield.
Goliath ($20) looked to have the race all stitched up until better-fancied ($15) stablemate Sweet Lodge (Manoel Nunes) came with a late charge on the outside, but despite the 7.5kgs pull in weights between the Steven Burridge pair, Goliath held on gamely to fall in by one length to spare from the bonny mare.
Burridge’s third runner Iluminado (Alan Munro), however, finished at the other end, shortening strides in the home straight after assuming control of the race halfway down the backstraight. Goliath ran the 1800m in 1min 53.8secs.
After Goliath beat one home in a turf event over 1600m at his last outing last Friday week, connections could have been disheartened by the four-year-old’s performance on paper, but the Burridge-Brown pair had reasons not to despair.
“We put him on the turf at his last race because we wanted to see if he could handle the grass if he was to run in the Derby,” said the Australian handler in reference to the pinnacle of the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge, the Emirates Singapore Derby (2000m) run on July 13.
“It was unfortunately a terrible run. I wasn’t happy with the run, maybe I would have been if he had run fourth, but he didn’t.
“The intention was always to run him again this week as he pulled up really well after that race. Corey couldn’t fault him, he ate up good, his action was good.
“Corey told me to just forget his last run and he’s done a good job today under the weights. The mare ran well too, but the weights were the telling factor and the punters had cottoned on to that as well.
“As for Iluminado, they slowed up the pace and Alan took the initiative to go forward, but he knocked up in the end. He’s not racing well at the moment.”
Burridge branded the Jupiter Stable-owned Goliath a warrior who always gives his 100% and still deserved a shot at the Derby in spite of his clear partiality towards the Polytrack surface.
“He’s a big horse and is always fit, and is so easy to train. He’s a good and honest horse who fought on really well again today,” he said.
“I’ll probably keep him on the Polytrack, look for the better races on Polytrack I guess. But we can still look at the Derby as it’s the Derby and you have only one crack at it.
“I may give him the one more run on grass. He did run well on it when the track was soft, and I thought he’d go well on a good track at his last start, but he didn’t.
“It would be really great to have a Derby winner for (owner Tang) Weng Fei as he’s been a big supporter of mine from Day 1.”
The 2000m showpiece has thus far eluded Burridge, whose only Singapore Group 1 silverware since setting up camp at Kranji in 2005 was earned in the Longines Singapore Gold Cup (2200m) with Risky Business in 2010.
Brown echoed Burridge’s sentiments about the son of Darci Brahma feeling more at home on Polytrack, but was above all rapt he had steered the gelding to a sixth win, having been aboard at five of them.
“He was not all that happy on turf at his last start. He kept changing his strides and I told Steve to forget that run,” said the former Sydney hoop.
“Today, he had the perfect run in transit. As it was a small field, I was worried about the tempo and didn’t want to be too far behind.
“At the 200m, I thought I wasn’t going to get there as Manoel’s horse was making a lot of ground, but he just kept finding. He’s such a terrific horse to ride.”
Goliath has brought his handy record to six wins and four placings from 20 starts for stakes earnings past the $310,000 mark for the Jupiter Stable.
