Trainer Steven Burridge was rewarded for his patience when Gilt Lad took out the $65,000 Novice Stakes over 1200m on Sunday.

Ridden by Matthew Kellady, Gilt Lad scored a nose victory over Super Kenny (Barend Vorster) with Fast Fast Boy (Soo Khoon Beng) two-and-a-half lengths away third.

Gilt Lad, a five-year-old, had to do it the tough way. He was one of the first to begin and crossed to the fence but then had Fast Fast Boy racing on his outside.

Kellady held the fence on Gilt Lad and didn’t allow Fast Fast Boy to cross him. On entering the straight Gilt Lad kicked through to take up the lead.

With 200m to run Gilt Lad looked set for victory until Super Kenny got a run through and finished hard with the judge calling for a photo to determine the winner.

Gilt Lad arrived in Singapore in April 2011 but didn’t make his debut until January 11, finishing second to Double Star in Novice grade.

After showing promise in trials back in August 2011, Gilt Lad was forced to the sidelines with a series of feet problems with veterinarians unable to find a solution on how to fix.

“It has been 18 months of hard work,” said Burridge. “He had feet problems that were so bad that we didn’t think we’d ever get him to the race.

“I got him as a trial winner from Cranbourne and had him sold after he had trialled, but the next day he went lame.

“The vets went over him and after all the scans and x-rays we couldn’t work out what was wrong with him and still can’t.

“About five months ago I gave him to (wife) Julie to potter around with. She’s done a great job of getting him right and getting him to races and deserves all the credit.

“He’ll probably be sore again tomorrow, but Julie will get back to working on him and hopefully we’ll get him back to the races again soon.

“He has always shown us nice ability and it’s a pity that he’s had these problems and because of his age we’ve had to bypass the maiden races with him to get him to this stage.”

Burridge added that Kellady, who rode Gilt Lad at his debut appearance, deserved to keep his association with the gelding.

“There were a few who rang for the ride,” said Burridge. “But we were happy to use Matt’s claim and he deserves the opportunities.”

Kellady said he had to thank Burridge and his wife for keeping him onboard Gilt Lad.

“They could have gone for a bit more of a claim, so I have to thank Steve and Julie for keeping me on this horse,” said Kellady.

“He travelled so well the whole way and he showed a lot of fight. I said to Barend on pulling up I wasn’t sure who had won, so I was happy to get the result.

“He’s a nice horse and hopefully he can go on and win a few more races.”

Gilt Lad is by Court Of Jewels from Gold And Red and has now won around $45,000 for the Burridge team.