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Right up until post time, it’s highly unlikely Adipson and Mat Smart will get a mention in the market talk to this Saturday’s $500,000 Group 1 Singapore Derby (1800m), but one thing their trainer Steven Burridge is sure about – they will stay.
"The journey is a question mark for a couple of horses but I know my two blokes will run the journey," said the Australian handler.
"Adipson has always shown he needed further and Mat Smart will finally run over the right distance. He's had a couple of runs here over shorter distances before we could get him up in distance.
"He went okay actually. He wasn't too far away."
The breeding would generally tend to agree with Burridge's belief about his duo's staying prowess, but regardless, they still need to walk the talk.
A three-time winner (1400m to 1600m), Adipson, who is managed by Burridge's wife Julie, is by dual Cox Plate winner So You Think while Mat Smart, a former Malaysian-based galloper who won three races (1400m to 1600m) from four across the Causeway, is by 2011 Singapore champion three-year-old Gingerbread Man, who was more of a sprinter-miler, and is out of a Barathea mare, indicative of aptitudes up to a mile.
Burridge is aware such theories will count for little if the weights and measures are against them.
"They are both not handicapped to win. If Adipson had not run at level weights, he would probably still struggle against horses like Aramaayo and Top Knight, but take out the top two, it's quite an open race," he said.
"I could have run them in the Class 3 race over 1800m, but you never know what could happen. You've got to be in it to win it."
The Singapore Derby has proven to be a slippery feature race to the 2010 Singapore champion trainer in his 16 seasons at Kranji. Wild Geese came the closest to breaking the duck with his second to Better Life in 2013.
Burridge does not have the same firepower in his yard these days, but the former jockey is still chipping away. Years of experience have taught him to persevere, and exhaust every trick in the book to get a winner.
"I'm taking the blinkers off Adipson and putting winkers on instead. I'm just trying something different, really," said Burridge who now trains only 35 horses.
"He went a bit flat with the blinkers, like he was waiting for the other runners. We'll see if the winkers work better, it's a bit out of desperation, to be honest.
"A bit of rain won't harm Adipson either. Mat Smart ran on soft going in Malaysia, so that should help him, too."
Burridge has booked two first-time partners for both horses: Ryan Munger and Azhar Ismail on Adipson and Mat Smart respectively.
Azhar does not combine all that often with Burridge, but it's certainly been all about quality rather than quantity over the years. The Malaysian multiple-champion jockey rode two feature race winners for Burridge - Speed Baby in the 2011 Group 1 Patron's Bowl (incidentally the last Group 1 success for both men) and Pitstop in the 2012 Group 2 Aushorse Golden Horseshoe.
As for Adipson, his first choice was his Singapore champion apprentice jockey Simon Kok Wei Hoong, but the master has come to terms with the fact that such a popular kid would fly the coop sooner or later.
"Simon already had three to four offers in the Derby. I had to find someone else, and as Ryan was available, we were more than happy to put him on Adipson," said Burridge who counts only one combination with the South African jockey – Wealth Elite, who ran eighth on August 16.
"The horses are racing well, and we can only hope they run well on Saturday. Julie manages Adipson, but unfortunately only two members of the syndication can come to the races, but I'm sure they'll all be cheering from home."
Formerly known as Giovanni Racer, Mat Smart is raced by Joe Giovanni Singh, who also owned the sire Gingerbread Man. Singh is also known as the owner of top miler Countofmontecristo.