Burridge, 49, has been allocated 36 stables and will commence his training operations next month when Singapore trainer Bernard Ang is expected to vacate his stables and leave for Macau.

Burridge has been involved in racing since 1970 when he was an apprentice jockey licensed by the Victoria Racing Club. He received his professional jockey licence in 1975.

He rode in the MRA circuit on a visiting jockey permit in 1987 before riding in Macau from 1989 to 1994.

He returned to the MRA circuit in 1994 to work as a track rider for several trainers. Since 1999, he has been a stable supervisor to several trainers in Malaysia and Singapore before becoming a trainer in his own right.

Ang, 59, the president of the Association of Racehorse Trainers Singapore since its inception in 1997, has been granted a trainer’s licence for the 2004/5 season in Macau, joining the likes of former MRA trainers Malcolm Thwaites, Vincent Chong and Michael Kent.

The new Macau season kicks off on September 18 and Ang is expected to have his first runner at the end of October.

Kent finished fourth in the table last season with 58 winners from 518 runners. Thwaites, in his maiden season there, had 11 runners from 136 runners.

Formerly Sungei Besi based Chong, who retired from the local scene in 2000 after failing to saddle a winner for that season, is another new face in the trainer’s ranks in Macau.

MRA jockeys Benny Woodworth and Oscar Chavez have been granted four-month permits for the new season.