3 minute read

From 13 rides that produced a second as the best result to show for, former jockey Leong Yoon Fei would know how hard a ride Bigcat Rhapsody was.

After hanging up his boots in June, the Malaysian has now turned his hands to training and currently learns the ropes as stable supervisor with trainer Alwin Tan.

One of Tan’s 60-odd horses he helps look after, Bigcat Rhapsody is certainly one that Leong knows a bit better, even his past riding history. That is how he was the one who recommended to Tan to put Matthew Kellady back on.

The Ipoh-born jockey is one of only two jockeys (A’Isisuhairi Kasim is the other) to have won (May 2014) on the hulking son of Darci Brahma when prepared by Shane Baertschiger. Kellady does not often ride for Tan, but when Leong roped him in for his assistance, he was only too happy to oblige.

“YF told me if I wanted to ride Bigcat. I know the horse well and he’s a very difficult horse to ride,” said Kellady.

“I rode him in a trial and he felt good. But when they told me if I was free to ride him on Friday, I had to clear with Shane as he had Han Solo as well.

“But with Han Solo on 56.5kg, JP (John Powell) could take him and I went with Bigcat.”

As it turned out, those two horses filled the first two spots throughout the $35,000 Class 5 Division 2 race over 1700m, except that it was the grey Han Solo who showed the way, but Bigcat Rhapsody’s superior finish inside the last 300m saw the order reversed on the line.

Kellady said Bigcat Rhapsody’s old quirks had not completely disappeared even after he hit the lead in the home straight.

“He’s done it again, even after all this time. He hit the front and started to loaf around,” said Kellady.

“I could feel Han Solo coming back again but I just kept whacking away and he’s kept his mind on the job.

“Thanks to YF and Alwin for the ride. It’s good YF remembered me even if he rode the horse a lot more often than me.”

Leong laughed back and said Kellady was a clear pick after he ruled himself out.

“I could have ridden him, but I think Matty knows the horse better,” joked Leong.

“This horse is not easy to ride and I thought maybe using Matty back on him might do the trick, and it did.”

Bigcat Rhapsody ($22) clocked 1min 46.62secs for the 1700m on the Polytrack to bring up his third win from 33 starts for stakes earnings past the $80,000 mark for the McBilly Stable.