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Rising apprentice jockey Hakim Kamaruddin showed a poise beyond his years when he drove the well-backed Afalonhro to a last-gasp win on Sunday.
Lined up in the Better Life 2012 Stakes Class 4 Division 2 race over 1400m, Afalonhro ($19) must have given his supporters plenty of anxious moments turning for home.
The Lonhro five-year-old is noted for his electric turn of foot, but at the 400m mark, even his most die-hard fans would have deserted him.
He still spotted the leaders around five lengths and was hopelessly caught behind an airtight wall of horses.
But as a providential gap presented between Foresto (Iskandar Rosman) and Sun Formation (A'Isisuhairi Kasim), Hakim didn't need a second invitation. Taking the race by the scruff of the neck, the Malaysian 22-year-old rider knuckled down to the only task left - bridge the gap.
Kharisma (Matthew Kellady) greeted the judge first upon cornering but, unlike his last-start maiden win when he drew clear easily at that point, he could not quite shake off the meatier opposition this time around.
UK-bred Thunder (Ruan Maia) snuck up along the fence giving the impression he could finally shed the maiden tag at his sixth start, but Afalonhro was finishing with a wet sail on the outside, getting up on time to stick his neck out. Thunder had to settle for a second place, with Born To Win (John Sundradas) in third place another 1 ¼ lengths away.
The winning time was 1min 22.45secs for the 1400m on the Short Course.
"He's a funny horse (Afalonhro). He doesn't want to run early, even if we put the blinkers on today," said Walker.
"It was a good ride from Hakim. They got there right on time.
"I think he's a horse who's better suited on a long course. So, it was a good effort to see him come from where he was."
Stakes total from his two wins and two placings in seven starts amounts to close to $60,000 for the Omni Stable.
Walker was at the receiving end of a double having earlier saddled Sportscaster to his third win in the $30,000 War Affair 2014 Stakes Class 5 Division 3 race over 1200m.
Interestingly, the three-time Singapore champion trainer left Hakim in the changing room for that ride, instead picking a former graduate of his and Te Akau's school in New Zealand, Dennis Tan Zhi Xian.
"Dennis was down in New Zealand for a couple of years for us. It's good to give him a first ride that turned out to be a winning ride," said Walker.
"He rode plenty of trials in New Zealand but didn't get to ride in a race. He came to me here, but then transferred to Jason Lim before he had his first ride.
"He rode the horse very well. It was the horse's first time winning over this distance (previous two wins were over 1700m), but he was down in the right race over that distance."
The Fastnet Rock seven-year-old has now taken his local record to three wins and six placings from 32 starts and close to $100,000 in stakes earnings for the Fortuna NZ Racing Stable managed by John Galvin, who has dubbed Sportscaster as their "iron horse".
"Iron horse Sportscaster who hardly ever runs a bad race finally rewarded his ownership group in taking out his first win in Singapore for 2020, after running a series of minor placings in recent starts," said Galvin.
"His best distance is usually 1600m, but he was balloted out at that trip last week, so Mark decided to keep him fresh so that he could run at 1200m this week and made the smart decision to use the 4kg claim available to apprentice Dennis Tan.
"Horse and rider delivered for us – a great training effort by Mark and a heady ride by young Dennis."
