Beasley yearning for more
Comeback jockey scores on his second day back in his second lease of riding life
It did not take long for comeback jockey Danny Beasley to do his familiar "V" for victory pose at the winner's enclosure again.
It took him only the first of four rides on Saturday - his second day back from a 31/2-year off as a jockey to be an assistant trainer-cum-senior track rider to trainer Daniel Meagher - to be back on the winning list.
A winner of close to 2,000 victories, including the Golden Slipper, he led all the way on the Meagher-trained $13 favourite Lim's Unique in the $30,000 Class 5 Division 1 race over 1,200m on Polytrack.
"It's great to get that first winner back early, there'll be less pressure on my shoulders. It was very different, though, with the empty grandstand. It felt surreal, but that is the new normal now," said the 45-year-old, who resumed at the preceding Saturday with four rides and whose last win came with Kolombia on July 9, 2017.
"Last week was all a bit rushed going into that first day back. It was only on the Monday before it was made official I got my licence back.
"So it was all about blowing the cobwebs out and get some fitness under the belt. I was looking forward to the next meeting and I made Lim's Unique my best chance.
"I thought he'd be very competitive in Class 5 and he didn't disappoint."
After a clean break from his wide alley, the four-year-old, who has another win over the Poly 1,200m from his previous dozen starts, led from a fairly strung-out field.
A few shakes of the reins from Beasley sparked him to an easy 13/4-length win from St Alwyn (Marc Lerner). Diamond Mine (Simon Kok Wei Hoong) finished third, 1/4 lengths behind.
The winning time was 1min 12.39sec.
Beasley hopes that early first win will be the trigger to more at this second lease of life. He said it would not have been possible without the help of his staunch supporters and the blessing of the Singapore Turf Club.
"The support from the Meagher family and Mr Lim (Siah Mong) has never stopped throughout all these years even when I was not riding," said Beasley, a winner of 528 races at Kranji before his shock exit, including six at Group 1 level.
"A big thank you to them and also to the club for giving me the opportunity to do what I love doing. I just hope the crowds will be back soon as we need them to get the blood pumping again."
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