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Injury-plagued jockey Mark Ewe made his comeback to the winner’s circle aboard the aptly-named Fantastic Man in Sunday’s opening event.
The Penang-born rider has of late gone through a topsy-turvy career where lows had outnumbered the highs of his three Singapore champion apprentice jockey titles between 2008 and 2010, mainly injuries but also a crushing one-year ban.
The 32-year-old thought he had got his beleaguered career back on track last year, but a broken neck set him back again in February. He duly returned later in the year, but fate dealt another cruel blow when he again fractured his neck in December, this time in a trackwork fall.
Though Ewe probably felt riding had become the proverbial pain in the neck to his career and life in general, the resilient jockey didn’t give up. And the smiles were finally back on Sunday, in the opening race, the $35,000 Class 5 Division 1 race over 1100m after he brought $55 shot Fantastic Man with a well-timed run to come out tops in a close finish.
The Alwin Tan-trained Choisir four-year-old finished the best on the outside to beat Dreamcatcher (Shafiq Rizuan) by a shorthead with Flying Winner (Antonio da Silva) third another nose away. The camera was also called in to split another shorthead away Captain McCaw (Vlad Duric) and Cannon King (Alfian Nordin) who finished in that order separated by a head.
The winning time was 1min 6.59secs for the 1100m on the Polytrack.
Ewe said he had a good hunch his luck was about to turn.
“I wished my friends ‘good night’ last night and ‘Happy Sunday’. It’s indeed a happy Sunday today,” said the Malaysian jockey.
“Racing is a funny game. You’re down one minute but if you’re patient enough, you will come back up.
“From the wide draw (11), Alwin told me to come across and try to race handy but if they’re quicker on the inside to just drop back and wait.
“There was one horse on my inside (Lucky Command) who came up on my inside and I couldn’t tuck in. Anyway, I was three to four wide but he was travelling okay all the while.
“I had to wake him up early as he’s a bit lazy. He took a while to find his strides in the straight, but when he responded at the 300m, he ran on very well and got his head in front right on the line.”
Tan was delighted he was the one who provided Ewe with his comeback win.
“It’s good for Mark. I tried to give him his first winner at his first ride with Afrojack, but it wasn’t to be,” said the Singaporean trainer.
“This horse has ability but he’s had a few leg problems. He was pretty fit last start and was supposed to run well but the strong race was not to his advantage.
“The drop in class today helped him and Mark rode him very well, especially from the wide barrier.”
Raced by the Number One stable of Mr Andre Lim of Super Easy and Super One fame, Fantastic Man was recording his second win from 16 starts for stakes earnings just a tick under the $100,000 mark.