Apprentice Amirul gets chance to ride his favourite horse Lim's Cruiser

It will be a dream come true for apprentice jockey Amirul Ismadi come Tuesday.

The in-form rookie will finally get the chance to ride his favourite horse in a race - dual Lion City Cup winner Lim's Cruiser. The 2017 Champion Sprinter will be making his comeback in the $125,000 Kranji Stakes A race over 1,200m at Tuesday's meeting.

"I've worked on Lim's Cruiser from the first time he came to Singapore up to now. To now finally get the chance to ride him in a race is great for me," said Amirul.

"From Day 1, I knew he was special. From the way he moved, he always gave me a different feeling from the other horses. He was quite naughty in his younger days, he would pigroot and buck, but he was always a smart horse.

"I won't say I was upset I couldn't ride him in races all this while, but I could only hope I would one day. I was happy to have seen him as a three-year-old rise through his grades to become a Group 1 winner and champion sprinter."

Amirul reckoned that, as Lim's Cruiser is just back from a break, the horse is not 100 per cent fit, but is sound and well.

"Win, lose or draw, it doesn't really matter, I just hope I can give him a good ride and he can go to Hong Kong after that. I'm really grateful for the opportunity," he said.

Trainer Stephen Gray has nominated the Casino Prince six-year-old son for the Group 1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint over 1,200m at Sha Tin on Dec 9.

"There is no race for him here. We hope to get into Hong Kong after Tuesday's race," said Gray.

"At 59.5kg, Amirul's 2kg claim will come in handy. He's also improved a lot, he works hard and he deserves his chance on such a good horse."

Lim's Cruiser has had 17 starts and ridden by four different riders, namely Vlad Duric, Karis Teetan, Danny Beasley and Glen Boss, who partnered the horse to victory in the Lion City Cup last time out on May 26. The now-retired Beasley was the successful rider in last year's Lion City Cup.

While Amirul's 2kg claim is the main draw to reduce Lim's Cruiser 59.5kg handicap, the nod from Gray looks more of a ringing endorsement of Amirul's enhanced riding skills, especially in the last three months.

The 24-year-old son of jockey-turned-trainer Ismadi Ismail and nephew of veteran jockey Azhar Ismail was as recently as mid-August seventh on the apprentice log on five winners, spotting leader Troy See as many as 15 winners.

Ever since Unconquered won on Aug 19, Amirul has been on a roll, scooping up winners more frequently. He went on to leapfrog Shafrizal Saleh, Simon Kok Wei Hoong, Zawari Razali and Noh Senari to now sit in third place on 16 winners (six for Gray), still a long gap of 13 winners off See.


Friday's South Africa results

RACE 1

1st 1 Shallcross ($8-$6)

2nd 2 Conquering King ($9)

3rd 5 Hippie Trail (No 3rd dividend)

4th 7 Nahoon River

Forecast $5

Place Forecast Refund

Tierce $13 Trio $5

Quartet $42

Scratchings: 6 Nay Thura

RACE 2

1st 9 The Bluff ($56-$17)

2nd 1 Mr T ($7)

3rd 6 Mindmymooood ($13)

4th 8 Abbeleigh

Forecast $58 Place Forecast (1-9) $14, (6-9) $25, (1-6) $13

Tierce $1,252 Trio $105

Quartet No winner ($526 jackpot carried forward to next race)

RACE 3

1st 6 African Victory ($39-$10)

2nd 2 Amazon King ($9)

3rd 3 Aldo ($6)

4th 4 Le Grand Rouge

Forecast $83 Place Forecast (2-6) $13, (3-6) $9, (2-3) $6

Tierce $261 Trio $29

Quartet $1,215

RACE 4

1st 1 Madame Speaker ($8-$6)

2nd 5 In A Perfect World ($13)

3rd 3 The Highway Man (No 3rd dividend)

4th 4 Open Fire

Forecast $10

Place Forecast Refund

Tierce $39 Trio $12

Quartet $73

Scratching: 2 Falcon Rock

RACE 5

1st 10 Just My Style ($40-$15)

2nd 6 Remember This ($9)

3rd 8 Smokey Affair ($5.10)

4th 5 Raven Girl

Forecast $29 Place Forecast (6-10) $13, (8-10) $10, (6-8) $12

Tierce $164 Trio $49

Quartet No winner ($200 carried forward)

Scratching: 2 Red Granite

Results of Races 6 and 7 were not available at press time. Log on to www.turfclub.com.sg for the results.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on November 17, 2018, with the headline Apprentice Amirul gets chance to ride his favourite horse Lim's Cruiser. Subscribe