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A Fantastic Sunday for Ewe

3 minute read

Injury-plagued jockey Mark Ewe made his comeback to the winner’s circle aboard the aptly-named Fantastic Man in Sunday’s opening event.

Fantastic Man winning the CLASS 5
Fantastic Man winning the CLASS 5 Picture: Singapore Turf Club

The Penang-born rider has of late gone through a topsy-turvy career where lows had outnumbered the highs of his three Singapore champion apprentice jockey titles between 2008 and 2010, mainly injuries but also a crushing one-year ban.

The 32-year-old thought he had got his beleaguered career back on track last year, but a broken neck set him back again in February. He duly returned later in the year, but fate dealt another cruel blow when he again fractured his neck in December, this time in a trackwork fall.

Though Ewe probably felt riding had become the proverbial pain in the neck to his career and life in general, the resilient jockey didn’t give up. And the smiles were finally back on Sunday, in the opening race, the $35,000 Class 5 Division 1 race over 1100m after he brought $55 shot Fantastic Man with a well-timed run to come out tops in a close finish.

The Alwin Tan-trained Choisir four-year-old finished the best on the outside to beat Dreamcatcher (Shafiq Rizuan) by a shorthead with Flying Winner (Antonio da Silva) third another nose away. The camera was also called in to split another shorthead away Captain McCaw (Vlad Duric) and Cannon King (Alfian Nordin) who finished in that order separated by a head.

The winning time was 1min 6.59secs for the 1100m on the Polytrack.

Ewe said he had a good hunch his luck was about to turn.

“I wished my friends ‘good night’ last night and ‘Happy Sunday’. It’s indeed a happy Sunday today,” said the Malaysian jockey.

“Racing is a funny game. You’re down one minute but if you’re patient enough, you will come back up.

“From the wide draw (11), Alwin told me to come across and try to race handy but if they’re quicker on the inside to just drop back and wait.

“There was one horse on my inside (Lucky Command) who came up on my inside and I couldn’t tuck in. Anyway, I was three to four wide but he was travelling okay all the while.

“I had to wake him up early as he’s a bit lazy. He took a while to find his strides in the straight, but when he responded at the 300m, he ran on very well and got his head in front right on the line.”

Tan was delighted he was the one who provided Ewe with his comeback win.

“It’s good for Mark. I tried to give him his first winner at his first ride with Afrojack, but it wasn’t to be,” said the Singaporean trainer.

“This horse has ability but he’s had a few leg problems. He was pretty fit last start and was supposed to run well but the strong race was not to his advantage.

“The drop in class today helped him and Mark rode him very well, especially from the wide barrier.”

Raced by the Number One stable of Mr Andre Lim of Super Easy and Super One fame, Fantastic Man was recording his second win from 16 starts for stakes earnings just a tick under the $100,000 mark.


Singapore Turf Club

Kranji

Sunday, 22nd May 2016

1
12:45
(local)

CLASS 5

Type: RBH43
SGD $35,000
1100m ALL WEATHER STANDARD
1
12:45
(local)
SGD $35,000
1100m STANDARD

CLASS 5

Type: RBH43
FP Horse, Age & Sex
Sire & Dam
Jockey
Trainer
SP
WT
1st 1. FANTASTIC MAN (AUS) 4yo G
CHOISIR (AUS) - REDWOOD FOREST (USA)
M EWE
ALVIN TAN
$11
56kg
NUMBER ONE STABLE
2nd 2. DREAMCATCHER (NZ) 7yo G
OCCIDENTAL TOURIST (USA) - CAMILLA (NZ)
RIZUAN SHAFIQ
MARK WALKER
$7.2
56.5kg
T & T STABLE

Sales Information

3rd 12. FLYING WINNER (AUS) 4yo G
FLYING SPUR (AUS) - FIDDLY (AUS)
ANTONIO DAVIELSON
THEODORE KIESER
$3.6
55kg
SOH SENG LYE

Sales Information

4th 9. CAPTAIN MCCAW (GB) 6yo G
EXCEED AND EXCEL (AUS) - OUR SHEILA (GB)
VLAD DURIC
LAURIE LAXON
$5.6
55.5kg

Sales Information

5th 11. CANNON KING (NZ) 4yo G
IFFRAAJ (GB) - KAMAHI (NZ)
N ALFIAN
MOHD YUSOF BIN OTHMAN
$58.4
51kg

Sales Information

6th 4. VELLENEX GENERAL (AUS) 5yo G
DISTORTED HUMOR (USA) - BUTTERS (USA)
GLEN BOSS
DAVID KOK
$16
56kg

Sales Information

7th 3. LUCKY COMMAND (AUS) 3yo G
COMMANDS (AUS) - LAGUNA LAKE (USA)
M KHALID
J PETERS
$8
52.5kg

Sales Information

8th 7. TIM (NZ) 6yo G
ELUSIVE CITY (USA) - DANGEROUS SEAS (AUS)
R RUEVEN
LAURIE LAXON
$6
55kg

Sales Information

9th 10. RUN CHEETAH RUN (NZ) 5yo G
ANY SUGGESTION (AUS) - BEIJING SOY (NZ)
OSCAR CHAVEZ
J O'HARA
$9.8
55.5kg

Sales Information

10th 6. SPIRIT OF SPEED (NZ) 4yo G
GUILLOTINE (NZ) - COLORS FOR LIFE (USA)
T SEE
L KHOO
$20.4
54kg

Sales Information

11th 5. HUMOR TOWN (USA) 8yo H
SHARP HUMOR (USA) - ELEMENT K. (USA)
ISMAIL SAIFUDIN
ALVIN TAN
$69.6
56kg
12th 8. BAIL OUT (AUS) 3yo G
ALL AMERICAN (AUS) - EMME (AUS)
JOHN SUNDRADAS
YEOH KHENG SOON SONNY
$30.8
55.5kg

Sales Information

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