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Trainer Ricardo Le Grange made sure hard work was duly recognised after he rewarded French jockey Marc Lerner with a first winning ride on Saturday.

During the Christmas break, Lerner was just about the only expat jockey who did not take any holidays. When he went knocking on stable doors he seldom went past previously, work didn't take long to pile up every morning.

At a time annually known for its dearth of jockeys, Le Grange was thankful for Lerner's helping hand, and duly gave him a rare leg-up on Water Rocket in the $75,000 Novice race over 1200m. Another two such combinations are due later in the proceedings, Yulong Green (replacing Vlad Duric) and Majestic Empress.

"Firstly, I have to thank Marc. He put his hand up when all the other jockeys were not around during the break," said Le Grange.

"I really appreciated his help at the stable. A big thank you to him."

On Water Rocket, who was at his second successive win following his breakthrough in November, Le Grange was not against the idea of aiming higher for the Argentinian-bred son of Orpen.

"I have a lot of time for this horse. He is the sort who likes to wait for other horses; those are the signs of him being an immature horse," said the South African conditioner.

"But he has come back from 1400m to 1200m and won, so he's versatile. I wouldn't be scared to go to the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge with him."

With a name like Water Rocket, it was inevitable Le Grange would also pay tribute to the famous black and red maltese cross jersey of former Singapore champion owner Fred Crabbia. Due to the embargo on South African-breds (which made up the bulk of his teams in the past), the South African steel magnate has significantly scaled down on his Kranji interests, which at his heyday, had as his flagship, Singapore icon Rocket Man.

"If South Africa opens its doors, Fred would be a much bigger player here," said Le Grange.

"It's unfair for owners if their horses take six months to come across the world to get here. I hope the situation changes so we can showcase our horses to the world."

Having been in Singapore for less than two years, Lerner would not really appreciate the full magnitude of Crabbia's contribution to Singapore racing, but he was certainly pleased he had his silks on his back, as well as Le Grange's support.

"It's very good of Ricardo to give me a good ride. Thank you for this ride," said Lerner who was at his first winner for Le Grange.

"We had a good race. The horse landed in front and I was happy to sit outside Saifudin's (Ismail) horse (Red Roar), but his horse weakened, I found myself in front too soon.

"I would have preferred some company but he won good in the end."

Water Rocket was screaming for the line inside the concluding stages with the commanding break whittled down fast by the swooping duo of Buuraq (Daniel Moor) and Prime Time (Simon Kok Wei Hoong).

The winning post arrived on time. Water Rocket ($40) held on by a neck from Buuraq with Prime Time third another nose away. The winning time was 1min 12.33secs for the 1700m on the Polytrack.

With that second success from seven outings, Water Rocket has taken his stakes earnings past the $100,000 mark for Crabbia.