3 minute read
Visiting mum Judy Collett was a lucky charm to her daughter Alysha at Kranji when the Kiwi jockey came with a well-timed run aboard $239 longshot Ping Pong to post a thrilling win in the $75,000 Restricted Maiden race over 1400m on Friday night.
Judy, herself an ex-jockey in New Zealand (father Richard is also an ex-jockey but now a trainer with Judy), was even happier that the win came for another good friend in Donna Logan, herself a trainer who last year relocated from the Land of the Long White Cloud to Singapore.
It was indeed an all-ladies night celebration as the happy Logan-Collett duo led in the El Roca three-year-old, who showed little on debut seven weeks ago. A beaming Alysha was glad she had punched in at least one winner before she goes on an enforced holiday from Saturday due to a three-day suspension for careless riding.
The icing on the cake to the joyous occasion would have been to see history rewritten with a first all-female trainer-jockey combination breaking the glass ceiling at Kranji, but Lisa Allpress, another New Zealander, and Leticia Dragon had been there before when Arrow To Post won on June 6, 2014.
With Logan-Collett being only the second such team to do it for the girls in Singapore (a rarity given Dragon and Logan were respectively the first and second lady trainers to be licensed in Singapore while many female jockeys have plied their trade at Bukit Timah and Kranji over the years), it has indeed been a long time between drinks, which they could certainly enjoy at the Champagne Room a few minutes later.
"Judy brought luck to Alysha and myself. I'm so proud of Alysha as we have tried for so long for her to ride a winner for myself, a lady trainer, as it's so rare," said Logan.
"It was a 10-out-of-10 ride from Alysha. She will now go on a bit of a holiday!"
Collett, who rides the better-fancied Grand Koonta later in the night, was glad she had ridden a winner in front of her mother at Kranji.
"It's great mum was here tonight, that'll keep her happy!" said Collett.
"This horse needed a bit of rain as he likes the sting out of the track."
Half the battle was won when Ping Pong overcame his wide barrier to hug the rails midrace, before springing into contention at the 300m.
The two Oscar Racing horses, Meryl (Saifudin Ismail) and Mr Alejandro (Amirul Ismadi), looked all poised to wage a battle between brethren, but the moment Ping Pong, who was right on the heels of Meryl, ducked back towards a gap on the inside, the Oscar 1-2 was shot down to pieces.
Ping Pong went on to score by a neck from Mr Alejandro with Meryl another neck away in third. The winning time was 1min 23.47secs for the 1400m on the Short Course.
