"It's just the way it feels. He felt like a big Derby horse and he had a bit of class. It's hard to explain but he just had a look about him," says the 41-year-old.
"He took me straight away," Burne says, adding Saint Kitt is a big boy, tipping the scales almost 100kg heavier than many thoroughbreds.
"He's 535kg when he's ready for raceday when most other horses are about 440kg to 460kg," she says, revealing the gelding stands at 16.2 hands, which is tall for a racehorse.
So why race a horse which relishes the Derby distance of 2400m over 1400m tomorrow?
Simple, really, because, akin to marathoners, horses have to build up towards a long distance, so Saint Kitt is coming out of a five-week spell to tune up for the 3200m Auckland Cup in March.
Tomorrow Burne will settle for a top-three placing for her horse although a win will open bigger doors.
In the $750,000 NZ Derby at Ellerslie on March 2 this year, the Scott's Syndicate-owned horse finished fourth with jockey Rogan Norvall in the saddle. The co-owners of Saint Kitt, who have earned $40,000 to date from 13 races, are all from the Bay except John Whittle, of Whangamata.
The horse came second in his first start at Ellerslie but Burne reckons he should have won and had better earnings but for "a bit of bad luck". In his other two outings at Ellerslie he has finished fourth.
In the classic for 3-year-olds in March, the achievements of the three who finished ahead of Saint Kitt have made his performance even more creditable.
Winner Habibi fetched multi-million dollars from a US buyer, Burne says, while runner-up Fix was named Filly of the Year and third placegetter Castzleburg was sold for $750,000 to Australia.
"There were a lot of good horses after him, too, because he was still running on after the 2400 mark."
She describes Saint Kitt as a "lovely, natural horse but for a big horse he is quite babyish".
The gelding enjoys having people around him.
"It's a good thing because he'll grow up eventually. He's very well cared for because he's only had 13 races and hasn't been thrashed about."
It's been a tough year for Burne who lost her mother, Sandy Meenehan, of Napier, last month.
"In the last five years I've had to bury my father [the late Terry Meenehan], my mother, and broke my backbone in four places," she says, adding her English father had died on March 2, five years ago to the day Saint Kitt finished second at Ellerslie.
"I was very close to my father. He got me my very first unbroken Arab. He just said, 'This is yours', and never said much," says the former Napier Girls' High School pupil who couldn't wait to finish schooling to pursue her equine aspirations.
Her broken back bones from a horse mishap in May last year is still causing her problems.
"It took me a long time to get back on a horse again with pins and needles," she says, appreciating the help from her stable foreman Steve Kelleher, of Hastings, and his stepdaughter, Briar Sykes, who also rides a little as well as working in the stable.
"I still get a loss of feeling in the feet but I simply keep jumping on until it's all done.
"My back will always give me problems but, hey, I can still work my horses so I'm always going to be grateful for that."
