3 minute read

The long wait is finally over for Jason Lim. The newly-minted Singaporean trainer will put a saddle on his first runner this Friday.

Some might think the wait began when he took office as assistant-trainer to British handler David Hill last year, but to the 37-year-old, his dream to become a racehorse trainer goes even further back in time. 

Conservatively, it would be 15 years ago even if the avid racing fan said the bug bit him when he was only 14!

“My dad was a racegoer and I always saw him doing the handicaps. I was only 14, but I got interested and helped him with the form,” said Lim.

“I was hooked from there. Once I was 18, I went to Bukit Timah and after I served the army, I thought why not start a proper course.

“In 2004, I went to the Australian Racing Institute in Murrwillumbah to study a one-year course in trackriding. It was pure hard work, but I learned a lot.

“Darren Graham was a very good teacher, and so was Helen the riding instructor. But Darren was also very tough – I had to wake up at 2am to muck out 40 boxes for two weeks, I did it until I bled.

“Then, I had to saddle 40 horses every morning. Darren saw I was very determined and soon switched me to pre-training where I learned a lot.

“I knew already that I wanted to become a horse trainer back home one day.”

The young Lim had to, however, still continue on a long learning curve, which took him back to Kranji next. While always a track rider, he began his local stint as a syce with trainers Tim Pinfield, Cliff Brown and Susumu Nigishi, then stable supervisor with trainers Alwin Tan and Mok Zhan Lun where he took that one last step closer to his dream when he was granted his assistant-trainer’s licence in 2014, and finally Hill.

“It was a great experience to work for so many different trainers who all have their own styles,” said Lim.

“But if there was one trainer who taught me the most, it was Tim Pinfield. He was a real horseman, and the one thing I will always remember from him was his leg bandages – they were perfect.”

It was, however, with Hill that Lim had to become more hands-on over a wider spectrum of stable management (including owner management) that was up until then uncharted territory.

With Hill deciding to retire 14 years after he moved from Hong Kong in 2005, and daughter Sammi not keen to continue the Hill legacy, Lim was seen as the heir apparent, but his fate still lay in the Singapore Turf Club’s hands.

As Hill started to distance himself from racing this season, Lim has continued to apply the polish to his string of 26 horses. Like the boss wasn’t home but it was still business as usual.

Concurrently, Lim, who had in the meantime obtained his trainer’s licence, has popped in his application form for stables. Lim has since been on tenterhooks for what felt like an eternity to him.

The main drawback about waiting in the wings and not knowing for sure is its bearing on the level of commitment: How much groundwork/budget is needed? Until those precious boxes are his, Lim could not be fully proactive in securing new owners and horses.

The father of one two-year-old boy named Alexander didn’t, however, want to be caught totally on the backfoot either. He recently went to the famous Ocala sales in America looking to buy some new stock and that was when the good news came through on April 26.

It was joy and relief, but also a sense of serenity the business model was already in place. The one advantage of having been in a caretaker role for so long is the seamless transition and not having to start from scratch – pretty much like James Peters, Leticia Dragon or Shane Baertschiger.

The only difference will be a change of trainer’s name in the racebooks.

“It’s a dream come true. My wife told me I was a penny stock before, but I’m now a blue chip,” said Lim who is married to Ivy Low, a manager at headhunting company Robert Walters.

“The advantage I have is that I already know the horses. I already have a training system in place, and the work will carry on like before.

“I will still continue to ride trackwork as I believe it provides owners with better feedback, even if it’ll be only slow work.

“I will have the same staff of syces and track riders from David’s and as for jockeys, I will be using mainly Ben Thompson, Harry (A’Isisuhairi) Kasim, TH (Teck Huat) Koh, Glen Boss and Michael Rodd.”

For his baptism of fire this weekend, Lim will launch three runners – Good Catch, Plucky Lad and Secondwave - on Friday and one runner, Silkino, on Sunday.

Of the four, only Plucky Lad is a maiden while Good Catch, a one-time winner, is a recent transfer from Peters. Both Silkino and Secondwave were among Hill’s topscorers when Lim was Hill’s assistant-trainer last year, but are not among their haul of five winners this year.

“I know it’s nothing new to get horses ready for raceday, but it’s a different feeling this time. These will be my first runners,” he said.

“It’s also an honour to saddle two runners for the famous Ace-In-The-Hole Stable – Plucky Lad and Silkino. They are long-time supporters of racing here, had Cup runners with Ivan Allan in the past.

“All four horses are in good shape, and I hope one of them can give me a fairytale start.”