The race touted as the duel of the day did not disappoint as the two headline acts Shuttle Man and Better Life quinellaed in that order with only a short head separating the pair on the line following a cliffhanger of a finish.

Both gallopers went into the $75,000 Kranji Stakes C with an unbeaten record and as two of the most exciting prospects going around Kranji these days, and the genuine duo certainly lived up to such top billing to finish locked together. A cheeky Trudeau nearly split them at the 100m mark but had to settle for a meritorious third just a short head away.

At barrier rise, Shuttle Man (Joao Moreira) began better than Better Life (Alan Munro), who was sent the outright favourite at $9 to settle for second to take upon himself the bullocking work of carting up the field behind tearway leader Flaneur (Koh Teck Huat). Better Life was dropped back to third last, which was giving no cause for concern as it was in line with her usual pattern of racing back in the field.

Flaneur started to give signs of distress upon straightening up, at which point Shuttle Man quickly pounced forth to take the lead while Better Life, who was in fifth spot on the rails, did not seem to be travelling as kindly as her main rival and was taking a while to throw down the gauntlet.

Well ridden by Moreira, two-time winner Shuttle Man set sail for the winning post with plenty of purpose but the Bruce Marsh-trained Trudeau (Opie Bosson) was joining the fray and looking more and more like the one who could gatecrash the party.

Munro in the meantime had managed to get his mount into the clear on the outside. Better Life, who was bidding for four in a row, took a while to wind up but started to put in the big strides at the 50m, at which point Trudeau had his neck slightly in front.

Shuttle Man however lifted again on the rails to get the upperhand on Trudeau and looked to have the win safely in his keeping until Better Life lunged at the post to cross the line in the same stride. The photo finish however gave the verdict to the Japanese-bred gelding, much to Burridge's and Big Valley Stable's delight.

The winning time was 1min 35.98 for the 1600m journey, which both winner and runner-up were tackling for the first time.

“He just did everything right and was very brave to the line. This goes to show what a big heart he has and I'm just lucky to be the one riding him,” said Moreira.

“Considering we had no cover in the backstraight, it was a very game effort. When Trudeau went straight past him, I had to work hard on him to get him going again.

“He is still learning what racing is all about and will improve a lot from that race.

“I think he's a very smart horse and he will win some feature races one day. He should be competitive in the Singapore Guineas.”

Burridge has led in many winners (his 12th this season) but he was wearing an even bigger grin than usual as he walked down to bring Shuttle Man back to scales.

“We expected a big finish between my horse and the other filly and it turned out just that way,” said Burridge.

“She was a bit unlucky but she still ran a good race and so did the third horse. But my bloke has done a great job carrying the field up.

“He's still a big baby but he stuck on tenaciously. I think I will give him a bit of a break now and bring him back for the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge.”

The three-race series kicks off with the Group 3 Singapore Three-Year-Old Sprint (1200m) on March 30, followed by the Group 2 Singapore Three-Year-Old Classic (1400m) on April 22 before wrapping up with the Group 1 Singapore Guineas (1600m) on May 18.

Shuttle Man, a three-year-old gelding by Taiki Shuttle[/n[ out of the Sunday Silence dam Sunday Kiss, has now recorded four wins from four starts for prizemoney just edging past the $100,000 mark.

Munro looked understandably dejected he had come up short by such a narrow margin, but was still proud of the [n]Smarty Jones three-year-old despite seeing her taste defeat for the first time.

“She was a bit flat-footed today, but she still ran good,” said the British rider.