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Peregrine Falcon was given a wide berth by most, but jockey Koh Teck Huat made the most of his only ride of the day to pick up an early birthday present on Sunday.
The Singaporean rider turns 35 on Tuesday, on which day he is also booked for one solitary ride, Turquoise Son for trainer David Hill, but with winners few and far between, he thought he might as well toast to Peregrine Falcon’s win at $162 in the $20,000 Countofmontecristo 2017 Stakes, a Class 5 race over 1400m, in case he is unsuccessful on the actual day.
“It’s nice to get an early birthday present, more so when it’s my first winner for the year,” said Koh.
“If I can win on the actual day, it’s even better, but I’ll take it now, thank you very much.”
Koh has never been aboard at any of the Fully Fledged seven-year-old’s 49 starts - which produced only two wins before - but after taking on board Khoo’s feedback at the mounting yard, he was harbouring a silent hope he could spring an early birthday surprise for himself.
“Leslie told me he has been working well and I thought I’d try and ride him positive, which seems to work for him,” he said.
“From the wide gate, I had to go forward, anyway. He took a while to get the lead, but everything went well after that.
“The other two horses (King Cross and Zahir) came to challenge in the straight, but he kept kicking.”
Koh, who honed his craft as an apprentice jockey with Singapore nine-time champion trainer Laurie Laxon, may not be the most fashionable jockey at Kranji, but he has been seen working hard with more trainers of late, especially after one of his main supporters, Tan Hor Khoon, retired in March.
“I’d like to thank Leslie for the support. Hopefully today’s win will bring me more rides from not just him, but also from other trainers.”
After the early exertions to find the lead, Peregrine Falcon did look vulnerable when Zahir (Simon Kok Wei Hoong) and Pop Gems (Olivier Placais), who had been right on his hammer, ranged upsides at the top of the straight, but Koh pulled out all the stops and the Happy Birthday song could ring out.
Peregrine Falcon fell in by one length from King Cross (Wong Chin Chuen) with Zahir third another neck away. Pop Gems ran fourth another neck away. The winning time was 1min 23.82secs for the 1400m on the Short Course.