Prodigal picks some pockets
$51 chance rolls the favourites to land the first of trainer Clements' four winners
Those "maidens" never fail to excite. They race like there is no tomorrow and it's always something to savour.
The second event on Saturday's 11-race programme - a $75,000 Restricted Maiden affair - was no exception.
Fourteen frisky three-year-olds lined up for that tricky 1,400m sprint with Ironprince - the mount of Wong Chin Chuen - and Ace Sovereign (Vlad Duric) dominating the betting.
As it turned out, which was hardly unexpected in wide-open races like this, the favourites were rolled. And the horse who picked the pockets of the punters was a fella named Prodigal.
What a turn of foot the reserve who got in produced.
Glued to the rails from the get-go, jockey Shafrizal Saleh guarded that spot jealously as it assured his mount the shortest route home. But Shafrizal didn't reckon on the trouble he was to encounter 200m out.
With the finish in sight, he suddenly found himself having to contend with a wall of horses. It certainly looked like an impregnable barrier.
But Prodigal was in the zone and, as we soon discovered, he was not about to be bullied into submission.
With Shafrizal calling on all his talent, he spied an opening and pointed Prodigal at the "light".
Riding with the vigour which had already brought him eight winners this season, he urged Prodigal along. He was up to it. He charged home to claim victory by ½ length.
Overlooked at the betting shops, the Michael Clements-trained galloper delivered a handsome dividend of $51 for the win.
Prodigal, who arrived in January, was having just his second Kranji start. The chestnut gelding finished last on debut. He will improve even more and his owners, The Functioning Degenerates Stable, will continue to have a lot of fun with him.
Two races later, favourite backers were again taken to the cleaners when King Arthur was ambushed and mugged by the well-bred Al Meqdam in the $20,000 Open Maiden event, also over 1,400m on turf.
King Arthur was on most punters' shortlist coming into Saturday's contest and, on the strength of his second-placed finish behind Everest earlier in the month, he looked a shoo-in.
But as the "King's" loyal subjects were to discover, their story didn't have that "happily ever after" ending.
King Arthur will have to wait a while longer before he can take that first step towards achieving the legendary status of his namesake.
As for the winner Al Meqdam, also trained by Clements, it was all in a day's work for Duric, who ended the day with a treble.
He steered Clements' Sahabat to take the opener and the fifth on the Tan Kah Soon-trained Gold Kingdom. He came on to replace the indisposed Noh Senari.
Another switcheroo paid dividends for jockey Mohd Zaki.
The noted front-running jockey hopped on board what was to be Duric's mount, Celavi, in Race 10 and he didn't disappoint.
Zaki easily settled into the leaders' role and, showing great skill, he held off a huge challenge from Songgong Hera to prevail by a length (see story below).
It gave Clements his fourth winner, taking him to 36 winners, four ahead of Mark Walker, who drew a blank after levelling up the previous week .
It was Zaki's fourth winner for the season. He certainly deserves better.
Zaki does it again on Celavi
When treble-scoring Vlad Duric was stood down for dehydration, trainer Michael Clements and his deputy, Michael White, did not regret substituting the four-time Singapore champion with the under-rated Mohd Zaki on the well-fancied Celavi in Saturday's $70,000 Class 3 race over the Polytrack 1,200m.
Granted the Malaysian jockey has been riding with boosted confidence since winning the Group 2 EW Barker Trophy last November on pick-up ride Nepean, but his name was still not the first to spring to mind.
Celavi, one of Clements' three runners in the race, was attempting to redeem herself after finishing second-last in the Group 1 Lion City Cup over 1,200m five weeks ago.
From barrier No 11, it looked a bit tricky against a top field of sprinters. But Zaki, well-known for his front-running tactics, not only delivered the goods but also did it in style.
For a moment, it looked like the Danny Beasley-ridden Songgong Hera was going to win after poking his head in front close home, but Zaki got Celavi to produce a second wind to win.
"There were six guys left. We've had some experience with Zaki before, he's a good front-running jockey," said Clements. "Zaki lived up to expectations. He rode her very well."
Added White: "Zaki was the first jockey to win on Countofmontecristo, and it was at his debut. If he did it then, why not on Celavi?"
Clements reckoned Celavi was always the likely pace angle in the race and praised Zaki for giving the $19 chance a breather.
"He just let her get a breather and he did well not to go too early," said the reigning champion trainer. "We told him she is quick and likes to run this style, we tended to do too much with her before and it's not worked out. Today, nothing was there to bother her and she accelerated in the home straight.
"She was headed at the 200m, but when Zaki changed his whip to his left hand, she kicked away again."
Grateful to his new boss, trainer Shane Baertschiger, for that life-changing ride on Nepean, Zaki felt like deja vu when given Celavi.
"Thank you to the trainer, Michael Clements, and his B trainer for giving me this ride. And to Duric as well, or I would never have got his ride." said the pleasant Kelantan-born jockey.
"The B trainer was very confident. He told me 'don't do anything, just let her jump and she will come into it naturally".
"He said all I had to do was follow her. Things went the way he said. But, when Danny came to us, I thought 'gone already'. When I changed the whip to the left hand, she went again."
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