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Singapore’s leading trainer Alwin Tan has been a busy man these past few months as he seeks to strengthen his stable with the business end of the season still to come.

Besides chalking up wins to maintain his lead at the top of the premiership standings, the Singaporean handler has also been clocking up airlines miles travelling around the region speaking to potential new horse owners.

“It’s been quite tiring as I’ve been travelling every other week,” said Tan, who has been alternating between Hong Kong and China. “I’ve been meeting new owners who are interested in sending their horses to me and hopefully I can help them get some wins in the future.”

The former Republic of Singapore Air Force regular was delighted to be on hand to welcome the connections of the Phan Nee Stable on Friday night as they celebrated a second victory for their chestnut five-year-old Simpang in the $35,000 Class 5 race over 1200m.

Ridden by jockey John Powell, the New Zealand-bred gelding held on stubbornly to beat a fast-closing Regal Salute (Manoel Nunes) by half-length with Specta Dilemma (Lisa Allpress) another length-and-a-half away in third. The winning time on the Polytrack was 1min 13.70secs.

This was the first time that Powell, who picked up his 33rd winner of the season but only his third with Tan, had taken the reins of the son of Rusty Spur and the new partnership paid instant dividends while receiving a glowing appraisal from Tan.

“John’s a good rider but as he’s a heavyweight, it’s hard for me to use him as often as I would like,” said Tan. “I’ve known him and (fellow Australian hoop) Danny (Beasley) for a long time and we’re good friends and whenever possible, I try to get them rides on my horses.”

While it was left to seasoned runner Volkov (Leong Yoon Fei), in his 70th start at Kranji, to set the early pace from the starting gates, Simpang ($13) was content to bide his time near the rear before slowly improving his position as the nine runners rounded the final bend.

A well-timed late surge down the straight appeared to put paid to his rival’s chances but a flying finish by Regal Salute threatened to ruin the script though Powell showed all his experience to fend off the charge from the rushing Mark Walker-trained galloper.

“He’s probably a Class 4 horse and against this field I always felt he was going to have a good chance to win,” said Tan. “But we were very lucky tonight as well. If that other horse (Regal Salute) didn’t miss his start we might have lost given the way he was running on but John did a good job and never panicked.”

The victory brought Tan’s tally up to 36 for this campaign and widened the gap to four from second-placed Laurie Laxon.

“It’s great to be getting winners again,” said Tan, who picked up a winning brace last Sunday. “A lot of the hard work is done by my stable, especially when I’ve been away and they really deserve credit. Hopefully my horses will continue to run on well for the next half of the year.”