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There were a few eyebrows raised when Mohd Zaki was unveiled as the stand-in rider for the indisposed Vlad Duric aboard the well-fancied Celavi a few minutes before the $70,000 Class 3 race over 1200m on Saturday.
Granted the Malaysian jockey has been riding with a boosted confidence since his winning pick-up ride aboard Nepean in the Group 2 EW Barker Trophy last November, but his name was still not the first to spring to mind when a replacement was needed for Michael Clements' speedy filly, who was bidding to bounce back from her disappointing run in the Group 1 Lion City Cup (1200m) five weeks ago with a return to her preferred Polytrack.
From barrier No 11, Duric – who booted home a treble earlier before giving up his last two rides because of dehydration – was the right man to navigate Celavi out of trouble.
Could Zaki step up to the plate and fill such big shoes? Clements and his assistant-trainer Michael White had a hunch they had picked the perfect pilot.
"There were six guys left. We've had some experience with Zaki before, he's a good frontrunning jockey," explained Clements.
"Zaki was the first jockey to win on Countofmontecristo, and it was at his debut. If he did it then, why not on Celavi?" added White.
The race went to the script the Clements-White duo had mapped out for the Fighting Sun four-year-old, even if it wasn't without some nervous moments inside the last 200m.
Celavi ($19) flew the lids as expected before going on to secure an uncontested lead, which only came under siege when Songgong Hera (Danny Beasley), who snapped at her heels from the outset, came upsides and even headed Clements' filly.
But as Zaki changed his whip to his left hand, Celavi found another gear, clawed her way back from the brink of defeat to regain the advantage by one length.
Songgong Hera, probably a little winded by his brave effort to stay in the slipstream of the speed merchant for most of the way, knocked up late, but managed to hang on to second place by a nose from the fast-finishing Clements pair of Paletas (Shafrizal Saleh) and Tuesday (Juan Paul van der Merwe).
The winning time was 1min 10.41secs for the 1200m on the Polytrack.
"Zaki lived up to expectations. He rode her very well," said Clements.
"She was always the likely pace angle in the race. He just let her get a breather and he did well not to go too early.
"We told him she is quick and likes to run this style, we tended to do too much with her before and it's not worked out. Today, nothing was there to bother her and she accelerated in the home straight.
"She was headed at the 200m, but when Zaki changed his whip to his left hand, she kicked away again."
Forever grateful to trainer Shane Baertschiger (now his new boss) for that life-changing ride on Nepean, Zaki said it felt like déjà vu when White handed the reins to him on Celavi.
"Thank you to the trainer Michael Clements and his B trainer (assistant-trainer) for giving me this ride, and to Duric as well, or I would never have got his ride." said the Kelantan-born jockey.
"The B trainer was very confident. He told me 'don't do anything, just let her jump and she will come into it naturally.'
"He said all I had to do was follow her. Things went the way he said, but when Danny came to us, I thought 'gone already'.
"When I changed the whip to the left hand, she went again. That woke her up, she won easy, she's a very good mare."
Celavi has now taken her handy record to four wins, one second and one third from eight starts for prizemoney that has hit just a tick below the $150,000 mark for the Celavi Stable.
