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Syahir Abdul was all smiles after he rode his first winner for his new boss Tan Kah Soon – and overall second Singapore winner - on Friday night.
Originally attached to trainer Cliff Brown in 2014-2015, the 26-year-old Singaporean transferred to Tan earlier this year before obtaining a new licence in April.
Before that, he spent some time honing his craft further in New Zealand in 2016. He rode three winners on the South Island, to add on to the solitary winner he rode at Kranji, A Lot In Hand for another Tan - ex-trainer Tan Hor Khoon on November 13, 2015.
After waiting for nearly three years to finally return to the Kranji winner’s circle, Syahir was a relieved young man as he led Spur Me On back to scales.
“I’m so excited I rode my first winner for Kah Soon. He’s been my No 1 supporter since I came back,” said the Ang Mo Kio lad.
“He’s been pushing me to improve on my fitness, and he’s always supported me with rides where he can.”
Tan was the first to give Syahir a high-five at the lead-in for Spur Me On, a Flying Spur six-year-old he also owns.
“Very happy for Syahir. He works very hard and he has been very patient – he finished second and third so many times on Super Ten,” said the Malaysian handler.
“It was certainly not for lack of trying. I’ve always encouraged him to get fit, and he can control his weight better now.
“It wasn’t an undeserving win for sure. Kids like him need the chance from owners, they work hard and that’s the least we can do.
“He rides this horse every morning, and big thanks to the owner as well for putting Syahir on.
“Amirul (Ismadi) usually rides this horse, but he was on Stephen Gray’s horse (Yulong Holy Flying), and the owner was happy to support Syahir.
“This horse has a problem keeping his weight. He ran a good race last week and this race came up.”
Spur Me On was indeed on the quick back-up after running fifth with Amirul up in a Class 4 Non Premier race over 1100m on Polytrack last Friday.
In the firing line from the get-go, he stalked up the speed set by Joyous (Koh Teck Huat) before stamping his authority inside the last 200m for a half-length win from Sonoran (Michael Rodd) with Yulong Holy Flying steaming home late for third place another half-length away.
The winning time was 1min 23.83secs for the 1400m on the Long Course. Spur Me On ($48) was ringing up his fifth win from 45 starts for prizemoney that has now shot past the $140,000 mark for connections.
“The instructions were to keep him in a handy spot. I had to work on him at the 600m, to get him to stay on the bit,” said Syahir.
“He ran a nice race in higher class on Polytrack last time. He was down in class tonight and he’s a horse who doesn’t get tired, he kept hitting the line strongly.”