Hatta Makes it Matter

The Singapore Turf Club reports:

Wong Chin Chuen pulled his way to the top of the Singapore champion apprentice jockey's log for the first time when he brought home his 19^thwinner on Friday night.

The Malaysian rider had been scooping up winners by the spades of late, so much so he had crept up on leader Troy See to sit just one spot behind before the night's proceedings.

Riding second favourite ($16) Hatta for trainer Mark Walker in the $75,000 Restricted Maiden race over 1000m on Polytrack, Wong was again on the mark, pulling off another 10-out-of-10 ride. Wong and See currently share the same number of wins but Wong wears the yellow jersey for now thanks to a better countback for seconds.

Hatta (Wong Chin Chuen) storms home to post a brilliant win.

The Charge Forward three-year-old travelled in an ideal third spot before producing his run at the top of the straight to put paid to his rivals rather easily.

Race-leader Premier Fighter (Vlad Duric), who was donning blinkers for the first time, tried to pinch a break at the top of the straight, but was gobbled up at the 200m mark, first by favourite Q Nine Million (Shafiq Rizuan) who himself was then bettered by Hatta's superior finish.

Hatta landed the spoils by 1 ¾ lengths from Lim's Operation (A'Isisuhairi Kasim) who beat Q Nine Million to second place by three parts of a length. The winning time was 59.51 seconds for the 1000m on the Polytrack.

“I know I'm leading for the first time and it's great, but there is still a long way to go. I will keep fighting to stay on top for as long as I can,” said Wong.

“This horse jumped well. He wanted to hang out around the bends, though, but he still travelled well enough.  Once he found daylight, he gave a good response and just kept going. A big thank you to the owners (Al-Arabiya Stable) and congratulations to them for winning their first race.”

Walker said Hatta did show he was not without some potential but only hit his straps after he lost his family jewels.

“He's improved out of sight after he was gelded,” said the New Zealand trainer.

“The light weight and a good ride helped him tonight. He's a promising horse.”