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The Steven Burridge yard got a much-needed shot in the arm with a double courtesy of two mildly-fancied runners in Wealth Elite and Chalaza on Saturday.
Neither are world beaters, but the Australian handler still welcomed any numbers that can boost a win tally that has struggled to take off this year.
On four winners before Saturday, with Split Second the latest picked up a month ago on April 24, Burridge has suddenly vaulted over six trainers (Leslie Khoo later passed him again with Charger taking the last) to now sit in 14th place.
With a string scaled back to only 25 horses and no top guns in the ranks, the road ahead is still long and arduous, but the likeable horseman will toast to the two wins.
"We've had a shocking run, but all we can do is just keep trying," he said.
"It was a good day. It's a change of luck for us.
"Look at Chalaza . It's good for the stable and Julie as this horse is getting on at eight and hasn't won for 1182 days!
"He's sound and honest, and it was good to see him win again. We thought Red Rover would be hard to beat, not to mention my horse was three wide, but he won a nice race."
The Road To Rock eight-year-old ($59) plotted a wide course smothered in midfield, but pinged beautifully under Wong Chin Chuen's hard riding to go and reel in a rejuvenated Qaraat (ex Super Fortune) for a one-length victory.
Favourite Red Rover (Vlad Duric) somehow lost a couple of lengths midrace, but recovered in the home straight to take third place another 1 ½ lengths away. The winning time was 1min 11.61secs for the Polytrack 1200m.
"Jimmy (Wong) is riding good these days. Last year around Christmas time, we had a winner together (Lim's Craft) and we've had a bit of luck since," said Burridge.
"Simon (Kok Wei Hoong) is also out suspended, so Jimmy got his chance again today."
The recent combination with the Penang-born jockey speaks for itself. From Burridge's previous 2021 winners, three were partnered by the former two-time Singapore champion apprentice jockey – Wealth Elite, Lim's Bestbreaker and Sage.
Wong also rode Burridge's first leg of the Saturday two-timer, who happened to be Wealth Elite ($38) again.
"Wealth Elite was disappointing at his last start, but Simon said he needed blinkers," said Burridge.
"That probably helped him today. He hit the line better.
"The trouble with him is he gets behind and you need to ride him for luck. The blinkers helped him to concentrate better today."
The Brazilian-bred four-year-old by Midshipman came from well back to score going away from Super Smart (Saifudin Ismail) two and a one-quarter lengths astern with Al Green (Iskandar Rosman) third another length away. The winning time was 1min 10.54secs for the 1200m on the Polytrack.
Wealth Elite has now taken his record to three wins, one second and one third from 14 starts for stakes earnings around the $85,000 mark for the Loti-A Stable while Chalaza, who is twice is age, boasts a much thicker record of six wins, six seconds and eight thirds from 52 starts for prizemoney that has now hit around the $365,000 mark for Julie Burridge's J Racing Bloodstock No 3 Stable.
