Last year’s Aushorse Golden Horseshoe winner Lim’s Racer has seen her racing career stall a little after her Group 2 success in June 2016, but trainer Steven Burridge is hoping she can still make a fresh new start this Sunday.
Shortly after the daughter of Red Giant landed the Group 2 two-year-old feature over 1200m, she bombed her start in the second one, the Group 3 Juvenile Championship (1200m), running stone motherless last.
The Lim’s Stable champion two-year-old was not sighted again that year (2016) before resurfacing early this year. Hopes were high at her two starts as a three-year-old, and even if she did not do too badly with a second and a fifth, Burridge felt something was amiss, and decided to have her checked by the vets.
Lim's Racer (Danny Beasley) takes the Group 2 Aushorse Golden Horseshoe last year, picture Singapore Turf Club
After scanning her legs, the results proved the Australian handler right.
“She had bone chips removed from both her front legs after her last run,” he said.
“I don’t know when it occurred, whether it was at her second-last or last start, but she pulled up average.
“She also reared up badly at the start when she was the favourite in the Juvenile Championship and was badly beaten.
“The operation went well and she’s all good now after I’ve given her all the time she needed to come back to full fitness.”
Burridge has not trialled the mare, preferring to throw her in at the deep end in Sunday’s last race, the $60,000 Class 4 race over 1100m on Polytrack.
“I didn’t give her any trial. She’s fit enough; anyway, we’ll see how she pulls up,” said Burridge.
“The pacifiers are back on as she wears them when she runs on Polytrack. We got (Matthew) Poon to ride her which is great as the lad is riding very well.
“As she hasn’t raced for a while, it’s also good to get a bit of weight off her.”
The two-kilo-claiming (only at Kranji) Hong Kong apprentice jockey has taken Kranji by storm since beginning a two-week stint at Kranji last weekend with three wins, and will be looking to pad up the score at his last weekend before he flies back to Hong Kong.
Lim’s Racer has drawn in the middle in six, and will be up against in-form Class 4 sprinters like The Cosmos, Grey Falcon and Black Mamba.
