Speedy Zaki on the double
Wins by Longhu and Celavi take the noted catch-me-if-you-can jockey's season's tally to seven
Mohd Zaki, the underrated jockey noted for his catch-me-if-you-can riding tactics, bounced back from a two-day suspension for careless riding to kick home his first double this year on Sunday.
His two all-the-way winners - Longhu and Celavi - have brought his season's tally to seven to be in joint-12th with South African Juan Paul van der Merwe in the jockeys' premiership table.
But Zaki has ridden in only 85 races, compared to van der Merwe's 186.
The jockeys' table is headed by four-time champion Vlad Duric with 25 winners, just one ahead of Danny Beasley.
It was the Shane Baertschiger-trained Longhu who gave Zaki his first win this year - in a Class 4 race on Jan 16.
The eight-year-old New Zealand-bred was unplaced in four subsequent starts with higher ratings in the same level.
He dropped to his winning rating of 53 on Sunday and carried the same 52kg handicap in the Class 4 Div 1 event over the Polytrack 1,200m.
Drawn Gate 10 in the 12-horse field, Zaki managed to cross in to secure an easy lead.
This helped him to kick on to win by 11/2 lengths from the second favourite Hooper, the mount of Oscar Chavez.
"The first plan was to go jump and forward. But, if somebody comes up, just sit second. Luckily, no-one disturbed the pace and he ran on to win. I think all my seven winners this year were from the front," said Zaki.
The likeable Kelantan-born rider attributed Celavi's win in the strong $85,000 Class 2 race over Polytrack 1,100m to his dream draw and 50kg weight.
The Michael Clements-trained mare, whom Zaki rode to victory last start in Class 3, just managed to hold off stablemate Heartening Flyer by the narrowest of margins - a nose.
Celavi set a new class record of 1min 03.72sec, eclipsing Altair's time of 1min 03.76sec set on Sept 12 last year.
Again, Chavez was on the runner-up. Most pundits believe that minus the 1.5kg overweight, he would have won.
"I had the advantage, I drew barrier one and carried a light weight," said Zaki.
"The horse was easy to ride - just jump and she knows what to do. Credit to Michael Clements and his staff for keeping the horse so fit. I just guided it."
But was he confident he had won the race with Heartening Flyer surging up so fast?
"Honestly, I thought I won. But Oscar said 'sorry, I beat you' so I became not 100 per cent confident. When I saw No. 7 on the board, I was really happy. It was my lucky day - eight rides for two winners."
Zaki, who was stuck without income in his Malaysia base in Johor Baru for many months last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, said his luck has been better after joining Baertschiger's stable earlier this year.
He thanked Baertschiger, his former deputy Scott Bailey, who has joined the Singapore Turf Club's broadcasting team, and stable jockey Matthew Kellady for helping him a lot.
He was also grateful to the many trainers, especially Clements and his former boss Hideyuki Takaoka, for their support, as well as the turf club for his licence and the Ministry of Manpower for having just renewed his employment pass.
"I am very lucky. Since I joined Shane, everything changed. I got more rides and better opportunities, even from outside stables," he said.
"I am very happy working in Shane's stable. There is no stress. Even when I am tired or on diet, I feel very happy. Everybody in the stable helps each other. Good teamwork."
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