Kranji Double for Mark

Te Akau Singapore trainer Mark Walker really made his presence felt with two of his Sunday starters saluting the judge at Kranji.

The first win came with Lim's Knight in the hands of Danny Beasley - an easy winner of the S$38,000 Kranji Stakes D 1200m.

Two races later, Mark lined up three starters in the (appropriately) S$75,000 New Zealand Racing Board Novice SW 1100m - and it was Distinctive Darci, a son of Darci Brahma bought by David at Karaka, who prevailed with stablemate Hello Michelle (a daughter of Minstrel Court) filling the third slot.

The Singapore Turf Club reported:

The Mark Walker-trained Distinctive Darci had to tough it out in the straight but was eventually able to make it back-to-back wins in the $75,000 New Zealand Racing Board Trophy, a Novice race over 1100m on Sunday.

Backed down to joint $12 favouritism with Lightning Fast, another last-start winner like him, Distinctive Darci (Derreck David) fully capitalised on the five-kilo pull in weights (56kgs versus 51kgs) between them by taking the bull by the horns from the start to take up the running and prevail by a neck from Lightning Fast (Wong Chin Chuen) in the end.

In spite of the weight advantage, David said it was still a win which was full of merit given he thought they were heading for the second place stall at the 100m, but the Darci Brahma three-year-old conjured up a second gear that to him, can only be the sign of a good horse.

Distinctive Darci (Derreck David, No 6) edges out Lightning Fast (Wong Chin Chuen) for a narrow win.

“He dropped the bit at the 50m and was loafing around. I thought we would lose the race,” said the South African lightweight jockey.

“But he went again and showed plenty of courage to win. He's still learning what racing is all about, but he's got a beautiful action and I'm sure he'll make the grade with more racing.

“A big thank you to Mr Walker and the owner (Dato Terry Lee of Fairdeal Stable) for the ride. Mr Walker rang me during the week to tell me he had a good ride for me, and I'm really grateful for the opportunity.”

Walker, who also had Hello Michelle (third) and Starsky (last) in the race, was happy with the way Distinctive Darci has beaten off a small but handy field.

“He's a promising horse and will only get better with more racing. He's only the unfinished product now,” said the 2015 Singapore champion trainer.

“It's also great for Dato Terry Lee as he told me to ask David Ellis (Te Akau Racing principal) to get a good horse for him and he bought this one for NZ$100,000.

“I was also glad to see Hello Michelle run so well after a break. She's not very big but she's tough.”

Ridden by Azhar Ismail, the one-leg winner of the Singapore Golden Horseshoe series was finishing with a wet sail on the outside, but she lugged in a little towards the end while Lightning Fast, who had every chance after travelling with his head on his chest in second place, dashed for the inside gap to settle for the runner-up spot.

The winning time was 1min 5.58secs for the 1100m on the Polytrack.