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Jockey A’Isisuhairi Kasim’s hand went bolt upright when he was approached to ride Yabadabadoo in Friday’s $250,000 Group 3 Singapore Three-Year-Old Sprint (1200m).
For a start, not many jockeys say no to a ride in a race that bears a Group label - and fills pockets a bit more.
Especially for jockeys who don’t normally command the pick of the rides in such races.
In actual fact, A’Isisuhairi, a former two-time Singapore champion apprentice jockey, was already prepared to be watching the first Leg of the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge from the jockeys’ room this year.
But when the manna from heaven that fell on his lap happens to be a horse in the top bracket of the better contenders at this year’s 3YO campaign, A’Isisuhairi must have yelled Yabadabadoo with the same gusto as Fred Flintstone.
With quality rides let alone wins in short supply despite a flying start to the season, A’Isisuhairi, better known as Harry, must have wondered if the out-of-the-blue high-profile booking would be the turning point he had long hoped for.
A’Isisuhairi is also riding Speedy Dragon in Sunday’s $200,000 Group 3 JBBA Rocket Man Sprint (1200m), but in this case, the ticket was almost guaranteed after he steered David Kok’s Polytrack specialist to a resounding win in the Group 3 New Year Cup (1200m) – one of his only three wins before the rot set in.
With six other rides – five from his former master Steven Burridge - at the big weekend, the Kelantan-born jockey said he was not too greedy. Just one win would do, but if it came with some silverware, A’Isisuhairi, who boasts six ‘black-type’ wins to his honour roll, including last year’s Group 1 Raffles Cup with Gilt Complex, would not be too hard to please.
“Chopsy (Michael Clements’ assistant-trainer Michael White) texted me two weeks ago and asked me if I had any ride in the 3YO Sprint,” recalled A’Isisuhairi.
“I said I had no ride and he mentioned about Yabadabadoo. I put my hand straight up.”
Though he has never ridden Joe Singh’s (winner of two Legs of the 3YO series with Countofmontecristo last year) chestnut, A’Isisuhairi did not have to scour through old records to check out Yabadabadoo’s s past runs.
“I know the horse well as I’ve been watching all his runs since he performed as a young horse. I also watched his race replays just to have a better idea what kind of horse he is,” said A’Isisuhairi.
“The only time he ran badly was when he suddenly dropped out of the race just before the home turn three starts back. They found nothing wrong with him and he’s bounced back since.
“The only concern on Friday is the bad draw (14), but that’s racing. I’ll have to study the speedmap and work out a plan with Michael.
“I’m very keen to ride him. He won his last start very well and I was actually surprised his jockey (Ryan Curatolo) is riding another horse (Captain Jamie), but that’s his decision.
“It’s turned into a good opportunity for me. I’m just glad the ride was offered to me as it could have been someone else.
“Normally, I get rides in handicap races because I’m a lightweight jockey, but this is a race for three-year-olds and he carries 57kgs like the others.
“I don’t ride all that often for Michael, but I believe he and the owner wanted to give me a chance. I’ll do my best.”
At his seventh full season in Singapore since returning from his apprenticeship in New Zealand, A’Isisuhairi has ridden only two winners for Clements from his total haul of 186 winners – Sulmona in 2013 and Scorpio more recently, last year on November 26.
Getting the nod for the plum ride is one thing, getting the nod at the winning post is another. Keen to suss his ride out as quickly as possible, A’Isisuhairi said he had been busy getting familiarised with Yabadabadoo since he was roped in.
“I’ve been working him in the last two weeks, and I galloped him last Thursday. He is a very nice horse who does what he has to do,” he said.
“He is very laid-back and quite professional in his trackwork, but I can tell the fitness is definitely there. His work is done and he will only do light work this week.
“It’s quite a strong 3YO Sprint with no horse above the lot. They all have got their chances.
“A couple of them like Nowyousee, Mokastar and also Stunning Cat, who has a nice draw, will be the main threats, but I believe in my horse’s chances even if the wide draw is like I said a question mark.”
A’Isisuhairi holds no such concerns for his other big-race ride Speedy Dragon who will begin from the middle in the smallish 10-horse field in the JBBA Rocket Man Sprint, but he does wish the first Leg of the Singapore Sprint Series was run on Polytrack instead.
“He trialled very well last week, but he’s running on turf on Sunday,” he said.
“As there is no racing on Poly, David didn’t have a choice. Fingers crossed, let’s hope he can run as well on turf this Sunday.
“I hope the weight difference can help. Countofmontecristo is on 59kgs and we have 5.5kgs less (53.5kgs), but at the same time there are a couple of lightweights who are also good, especially Super Fortune.”
Contrary to Yabadabadoo, A’Isisuhairi has not been doing the donkey work on Speedy Dragon on the training tracks. In fact, he has not sat on the seven-time winner since the New Year Cup triumph.
“He can be a bit crazy in the gates for example. David takes no chances and prefers to let Salim Yusoff ride him in trackwork as he knows him very well,” said A’Isisuhairi.
“Salim’s done a great job with the horse. I’d like to say a big thank you to David and the owner Jason Goh for keeping me on their horse in races.
“I will jump on him tomorrow for some slow work, though. It would be just to remind him he’s got a big job on Sunday.
“I hope this week brings better luck as the last few weeks have been quite rough. I’m not getting good rides, but this week, apart from the two big races, I think Arctic Flow should go close and that new filly from Malaysia, Gain Eclipse, trialled very well.”
Sixth on debut, Arctic Flow (x Artie Schiller) runs in the $80,000 Mooring 2009 Stakes Class 3 race over 1600m on Friday while Gain Eclipse (x Iffraaj), a one-from-one winner in Kuala Lumpur (1200m) last November for one of A’Isisuhairi’s biggest supporters, the Eclipse Stable, makes her Kranji debut on Sunday in the $45,000 Mr Big 2012 Stakes Class 4 Non Premier race over 1200m. Both are prepared by Burridge.
