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While all eyes were on the jockey’s title fight between Vlad Duric and Michael Rodd, underrated jockey Erasmus Aslam stole their thunder with a hat-trick of wins on Sunday.

The 41-year-old Singaporean has been riding on a crest of wave in the last two months, booting home six winners from his total tally of eight this year.

However, Aslam’s merit can be considered even greater given he had only 82 rides the whole season, the second lowest number of rides besides the currently-suspended Marc Lerner (40 rides), who only started plying his trade here in September.

Aslam said support dropped after his main supporter, ex-Kranji trainer Brian Dean relinquished his licence in 2016. It eventually led to depression and alcoholism, but, a second lease of life saved him down the road.

“I was riding for Brian (Dean), but he left. I was still riding (trackwork) every day, but the support was just not there,” said Aslam, who saw his licence renewed for a year in 2019.

“Things were not going well, I went into depression. I drank a lot.

“But then I took a step back, and I thought I should not be going down this path. I told myself I need to pick myself up and I worked hard.

“Donna came early this year and she approached me, so I started working for her. We hit it off.

“It’s a slow start for a new stable but we were flying towards the end, and we started to have more winners together.

“I am very thankful towards Donna.”

Aslam had four rides, but was replacement rider for three other rides (Satellite Kingdom, Dynamic General and Satellite Warrior) after apprentice jockey Lim Aun Kean became indisposed.

While the Bruce Marsh-trained Satellite Kingdom ($29) and John O’Hara-trained Satellite Warrior ($66) were winning pick-up rides he was unfamiliar with, the up-and-coming Shahbaa ($26) was a horse he has now partnered to three wins from as many rides.

The four-year-old son of Road To Rock raced just off the speed in the $80,000 Johnny Guitar 2015 Stakes - Kranji Stakes C race over 1800m on the Polytrack, while Panache (Simon Kok Wei Hoong) led the field.

In the straight, Aslam pushed the button and the Al-Arabiya Stable-owned gelding responded with a strong charge on the rails to race past the fading Sun Hancock (Mohd Zaki). $17-favourite Solo Sun (Vlad Duric) left his run a tad too late to finish one length behind in second.

Lim’s Ripple (Troy See) was another two-and-three-quarter lengths in third, beating Sun Hancock into fourth another half-a-length away. The winning time was 1 min 53.59 secs for the 1800m on the Polytrack.

Aslam is now hoping Shahbaa can be his Singapore Derby ride next year.

“You can tell that this horse runs better with more ground,” said Aslam, who has won five times for Logan this year.

“He has a tendency to lay in, but it was still a strong finish towards the end.

“He still has got a bit to learn, but I have no doubt he can step up in class easily and potentially become a Derby horse next year.

“(On pick-up ride Satellite Kingdom) I don’t know this horse at all. The instruction was to sit third or fourth, and I’m just happy he won.”

The Group 1 Singapore Derby (1800m) was part of the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge this year, which also comprised the Group 2 Stewards’ Cup (1400m) and Group 1 Giovanni Racing Charity Bowl (1600m) as the first two legs, but the Series will cease to exist in 2019 with the discontinuation of the Charity Bowl.

Shahbaa has now won three times and placed once from seven starts, amassing close to $120,000 in prizemoney for his owners.

Duric wins back-to-back champion jockey titles

Duric successfully sealed his second consecutive Singapore champion jockey title after taking out the $85,000 Daniel 2016 Stakes – Restricted Maiden race over 1100m on board newcomer Mon Energy on Sunday.

Fellow Australian Rodd was on 70 wins, two fewer than Duric coming into the last race meeting of the year. Despite the scratching of Nova Strike (Rodd in the Colonial Chief Stakes) and Super Six (Duric in Race 10), they still had many chances left to battle it out.

Duric’s only win on Mon Energy pushed his total tally to 73. The three-year-old son of Myboycharlie may not be a world-beater, Duric was still pleased with his first run.

“He jumped from a nice barrier and had a beautiful run,” said Duric. “He needed the run and he wanted to lay in a little bit, but he will improve from that.

“He doesn’t feel like a “top-top” liner to me, but he’s a nice and quiet little horse.

“He felt a little tired in the last 100m, but he showed plenty of grit and determination that will see him go a fair way through his career.

“Great to ride a winner for Mr Tang Weng Fei.”

It was the comeback owner’s second winner with after Mydreamliner - also trained by Young Keah Yong - saluted for the same connections last Sunday.

After one second (Sugartime Jazz) and two thirds (Turf Beauty and Super Fortune) in six rides, Rodd had by then already conceded defeat to Duric.

But he still managed to end the 2018 season on a winning note by claiming an easy win on the Lee Freedman-trained Petite Voix in the lucky last: The $60,000 Escamonda 2010 Stakes – Class 4 Premier race over 1100m.

A model of consistency throughout the year, Rodd held on for the runner-up spot on 71 winners.

A five-year-old daughter of Poet’s Voice, Petite Voix also wrapped newly-crowned Singapore champion trainer Freedman’s season up in the best possible way. It took the Australian’s final tally to 67 winners, eight more than runner-up Shane Baertschiger.