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A confident ride by young apprentice jockey Syahir Abdul saw favourite Lim’s Craft score a stylish win in the $75,000 Forever Young 2017 Stakes, a Restricted Maiden Division 2 race over 1200m on Sunday.

One of the best away from his low draw (3), the Smart Missile three-year-old was always in the zone once he settled into a prominent spot outside leader Yulong Express (Glen Boss).

In the home straight, trainer Tan Kah Soon’s apprentice jockey bided his time a little before going for broke on Lim's Craft, who immediately pinched a couple of lengths on the pack.

Less lucky was Hugo (Ben Thompson) who was locked away on the fence and was struggling to find daylight, but once he was in the clear, he also put in the big bounds, only to fall within three parts of a length off Lim’s Craft.

Yulong Express did a good job to hold on for third place another 1 ¼ lengths away. The winning time was 1min 10.82secs for the 1200m on the Long Course.

Syahir, who was at his first combination with Lim’s Craft, but not at his first for the connections (the last of his previous five wins was Lim’s Dream on March 29), has not taken the job without doing his homework.

“He raced very well at his first two starts, but was a bit unlucky. He was caught wide but still ran on nicely,” said the Singaporean rider.

“Claiming four kilos probably helped him as well. He won a nice race.

“I’d like to thank the trainer Mr Burridge and the Lim’s Stable for the support. Riding for the big stables is really nice.”

Burridge said Lim’s Craft was not the biggest horse around and would for the time being be restricted to such sprinting races.

“He was unlucky at his last start. The kid rode him very well today,” said the Australian handler.

“As he’s not a very big horse, I think I will keep him to 1200m races for now.”

As Lim’s Craft has already picked up a few cheques from his previous two placings from as many starts, his total stakes earnings have already hit beyond the $60,000 mark for the Lim’s Stable.