Winning Stride takes his next step in Perak Derby

Drawing a line through his recent runs, you could be swayed into believing that Winning Stride does not have what is needed to win a 2,000m race like the Group 1 Perak Derby in Ipoh on March 22.

But, if you were to look further back – like when Winning Stride was under the care of Australian handler Steven Burridge at Kranji – you would see that the son of Wrote can see out 2,000m.

He is one of nine runners entered for the Group 1 staying feature and Coetzee sent his galloper out for some serious work on the morning of March 17.

The seven-year-old grey gelding turned on the charm, running the 600m in 37sec.

While the four-time winner (won two races in Singapore and two in Malaysia) has yet to post a win in races further than 1,800m, he showed staying qualities when, on three occasions in 2023 and 2024 at Kranji, he took second over the 2,000m trip.

However, from his nine starts in Malaysia, Winning Stride has run only once over that trip. That was at his last race in Kuala Lumpur on May 25, 2025 – when trained by Richard Lines – and he finished fifth behind Don’t Forget Boss in a Supreme C contest.

He was then transferred to the Ipoh-based Coetzee in late 2025.

Last time in a Cosmo C event in Ipoh on Feb 14, Winning Stride was doing his best work late when running second to Man Of Action in a 1,600m race.

The New Zealand-bred has won once over 1,800m in a Class 4A race at Sungai Besi on May 4, 2025, so the extra 200m on March 22 could be what he is looking for.

Aside from the main event on the 10-race meeting, the Cosmo C race (1,400m) also looks interesting.

It features three last-start winners looking to put together race-to-race wins, and among them is Lucky Lyle.

A frisky four-year-old, he was all “go” on the training track where he ran out the 600m in a flashy time of 36sec.

Trained by Yan Weng Kuan, Lucky Lyle broke the duck on Valentine’s Day when he led from pillar to post to win in the Class 4A event (1,200m) in Ipoh in a nice time of 1min 09.77sec.

That victory came on the back of three consecutive seconds in his short Malaysian career.

The son of Overshare has to tackle the 1,400m at his sixth start on March 22. But that should not pose any problems, given he finished second behind Man Of Action in an Enrich Stakes A race over the same trip on Dec 6, 2025.

Also from the training track, Burgundy Bubbles is another horse to follow.

That, after the two-time winner ran the 600m in 36.1sec.

Burgundy Bubbles has been entered for the Class 4A race (1,400m) and, from his morning gallop, he looks like he is ready to toss in a fighting show.

Trained by Shanmugam Subramaniam for the Shine Blue Stable, the five-year-old has been winless since leading all the way to take out a similar race over the same distance on Sept 29, 2024.

The Burgundy gelding won with almost 2½ lengths to spare.

He gets into the action with a handy weight of 54.5kg, which will feel like a feather when compared to the 58.5kg he had to shoulder when winning that race almost two years ago.

Should push come to shove, the galloper to “burst the bubble” could be Peaky Blinder.

Another one from Coetzee’s yard, the four-year-old son of Magna Grecia ran out the 600m in 37sec.

Peaky Blinder has won four races from 26 starts, and has finished second on five other occasions.

The Australian-bred came close to his sixth win for his South African handler in a Cosmo D race (1,400m) on Feb 14, but was beaten into second by a sweeper named Simon.

With a strong team of 13 spread over the 10 races, Coetzee could be looking at fruitful returns on the Hari Raya weekend.

brian@sph.com.sg