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American debutant Takhi had a successful introduction to Singapore racing in the $75,000 Restricted Maiden Division 1 race over 1200m on Friday night.
Bringing up the rear for apprentice jockey Dennis Tan Zhi Xian from the start, the three-year-old by little-known US sire Bahamian Squall started to make headway on the outside of the small eight-horse field from the 600m before finishing the best for a 1 ½-length win from Fort Mustang (Louis-Philippe Beuzelin) with Silver Sword (Chin Chee Seng) third another 1 ¼ lengths away. The winning time was 1min 12.92secs for the 1200m on the Polytrack.
Trainer Jason Lim was a happy man at the winner's circle, even if it was a bit of a bittersweet moment with his other runner occupying the berth at the other end. The better-fancied Crystal Dragon (Ruan Maia), who was also at his Kranji baptism of fire, ran last despite enjoying a handy trail behind the leaders Awesome Conqueror (Saifudin Ismail) and Fort Mustang.
"We thought Crystal Dragon had a better chance, but I'm glad Takhi won instead," said the Singaporean handler.
"There's not much of him, but he's got heart. I have to say he didn't really show much in his work, he was a bit plain, but he showed ability tonight.
"I bought him together with Natureisspeaking and Perfect Mission at the Ocala sale in the US last year. He was actually passed in, I made an offer and bought him for US$23,500."
Returning from a four-day suspension for dropping his hands on Fight To Victory in a race on January 12, Tan has not taken long to redeem himself, albeit mildly surprised the welcome-back winner came via the $37 shot.
"The horse was travelling okay at the back, and from the back, I could feel he was improving nicely," said Tan.
"I could see he was travelling better than the stablemate, and in the straight, he sprinted very well. He can improve from that first start as he's still green."
Racing in the familiar green and black striped jersey of the Secondtonone Stable, Takhi carried the postage-stamp load of 49.5kgs courtesy of Tan's allowance shaving off four kilos from the allotted 53.5kgs.
