He Conquers on Debut

The Singapore Turf Club reports:

Seven-time Malaysian champion jockey Azhar Ismail made a welcomed return to the winner's circle after he successfully combined with Singapore champion trainer Mark Walker aboard debutant Mighty Conqueror in Race 2 on Friday night.

Now based at Kranji, the 53-year-old rider got off to a fairly encouraging start when he gained a win on Guru-Guru on February 9, but things went pear-shaped thereafter.

The veteran hurt his ankle in a barrier trial mishap on March 10 and only made his riding comeback in early June. Support was sparse but a recent link-up with Walker on a few of his horses at the barrier trials had not gone unnoticed and nothing like a winner to give them a bit of a kickalong.

Mighty Conqueror (Azhar Ismail) keeps hitting the line gamely to score on debut.

Azhar might have taken that expression a little literally as he returned to scales with a bloodied nose, a common occupational hazard for a jockey when dealing with flighty newcomers.

“He hit my face when he reared behind the gates, but it's all good, he's forgiven, he's a nice horse,” said Azhar good-naturedly.

“He was quite keen and all I wanted was to settle him for as long as I could when he sat outside the leader (Typhon).  He's still learning what racing is all about but when I went for him in the straight, he did a good job to score. There is definitely more room for improvement.”

Putting the whip away, Azhar was seen cuddling the four-year-old son of Patapan to the line as they overhauled Typhon, then holding their ground to score by half-a-length from the fast-finishing Ninepins (Oscar Chavez). Typhon held on for third place another head away. The winning time was 1min 11.05secs for the 1200m on the Short Course.

“It's been a pretty tough season for me this year, with the ankle injury and all. This win will definitely motivate me to improve my score for the remainder of the season,” said Azhar who was at his only ride of the night.

Walker for one handed out kudos to the Malaysian jockey for his perfect handling of the Synthetic Racing Stable-owned gelding, who was sent out at warm odds of $23.

“Azhar has been around for a while and knows what he is doing. He rode this horse in a barrier trial and handled him very well, he didn't have to pull the whip on him as he's still a young horse,” said the Kiwi handler.

“The horse is still green and did a few things wrong, but he sure has got some potential. He was a trial winner in New Zealand before coming here and also won a trial here.  He is a lovely big scopey horse but will need to fill out more and I'm sure his owners will have a lot of fun with him.

“The owners are Malaysian and know Azhar well. They also own Hello Michelle, who has pulled up well since her two-year-old campaign and will be back racing at the end of the month in a Novice race over 1100m.”

Hello Michelle is a filly who won the second Leg of the Singapore Golden Horseshoe series and did not fare too badly thereafter, running on late to finish eighth but only around three lengths off the winner Lim's Racer in the Group 2 Aushorse Golden Horseshoe (1200m).

Walker also hoped the win from Mighty Conqueror will herald the return to form of his stable, which truth be told, had been enduring a bit of a lean spell of late. He currently lies in third place on 45 winners, 11 behind current leader Alwin Tan.

“It's been a very disruptive season with the stable renovation, but things should improve when we return to our own barn next week,” he said.