3 minute read
Diamond Mine has not exactly been trainer Steven Burridge’s best friend or punters’ pal, but a daring change of tack to leading tactics has put the polish back on Sunday.
Normally a get-back sort of horse, the Gingerbread Man five-year-old was sooled forward by champion apprentice jockey Simon Kok Wei Hoong from his outermost alley of 14 in the $30,000 Class 5 race over 2000m – as per the advice Burridge dropped with the Stewards before the race.
He did get company from better supported rivals like Marcus Antonius (Hakim Kamaruddin) or Pisca Pisca (Marc Lerner), but when he swung for home, he was still the horse to run down.
Only at his second try over 10 furlongs, Diamond Mine defied his sprinter-miler breeding (we all know Gingerbread Man as such even if he ran a place over 2000m once while it was all speed from his Woodman dam Convictions) as he kept fending off his rivals and the onset of lactic acid to go and score rather comfortably by 1 ½ lengths from Sayonara (A'Isisuhairi Kasim) who just worried Footstepsonthecar (Shafrizal Saleh) out of second place by a nose.
Unfancied at $85, Diamond Mine was recording his third win from 26 starts that also yielded five placings, and has now brought up in excess of $55,000 in stakes earnings for the Black Diamond Racing Club Stable. He ran the 2000m on the Short Course in 2min 4.77secs.
Not one for window dressing, Burridge was just happy to get another win from a tricky customer, especially after he took a punt with a tactical change which he was upfront about, hence open to scrutiny.
"He's a bad problem horse. He usually comes from behind and had shown ability when he flew home," said Burridge.
"Around five starts ago in a Polytrack race, there was nothing in front of him and he ran on for second.
"But two starts back on the Poly again, he jumped okay, but he wouldn't race. Simon told me he spat the bit, he didn't seem to like having horses around.
"Today from barrier 14, it was do or die, we thought let's go forward to avoid all the kickback. The only worry was his jump, he can be spastic in the barriers, sometimes he jumps very awkward and misses half-a-length.
"He's got a mind of his own, and with a horse like that, you can't tell the owners to have a bet.
"They had something on today, though. Can't complain, winners are grinners."
