3 minute read
Malaysian apprentice jockey Zawari Razali’s current hot form showed no signs of cooling off after he rang up his 10th winner of the season on Friday, Lim’s Signature in the opening event.
The stocky jockey has often had the last say by outmuscling his rivals in the last bounds, and that was exactly how he landed the $35,000 Class 5 Division 1 race over 1200m with the Swiss Ace three-year-old.
The maiden runner actually jumped from the inside gate, but even though he did not fully capitalise on that advantage when he dropped back and somehow ended up travelling three deep, he quickened when it mattered.
Ridden all out by Zawari inside the last 300m, Lim's Signature powered home to foil Smart Master (John Sundradas) by a neck with The Dodger (Vlad Duric) third another 1 ½ lengths away.
Sent out as the joint $19 favourite with Ocean General (Derreck David), Lim’s Signature clocked the winning time of 1min 11.96secs for the 1200m on the Polytrack.
Zawari is now only four wins behind reigning champion apprentice jockey Wong Chin Chuen, but he said he would rather focus on riding one winner at a time than take aim at the premiership.
“Things are going well but I’m not thinking about the title,” said the Kelantan-born rider.
“But I’m trying my best. For now, I just want to keep improving on my riding, and hopefully ride a few winners along the way.
“This horse is very strong. From the good barrier, I wanted to be closer to the speed, but he was hanging out down the back, and that’s how we found ourselves further back that I would have liked.
“But in the last 100m, he kicked very strongly and won a very nice race.”
With Walker still not back from the Magic Millions National Yearling sale, Lim’s Stable’s racing manager Mick Dittman was on hand to give Zawari a pat on his back.
“He can ride that kid. I told him to let the rest go early or he would have nothing left,” said the former Australian riding legend.
“The horse was hanging in a bit in the straight, but he did a good job to get him home.”