Jamil delivers at third race ride

New apprentice jockey Jamil Sarwi's first two career race rides would sit close to the opposite ends of speed limits.

At his maiden steer aboard Qiji Star, he scorched away to a big lead. The horse duly weakened, but did well to hang on for fourth.

If Jamil was told to "slow down" next time, one might have thought the eager beaver took it literally.

Aboard Axel, he slumped right at the rear, "dozed off" for most of the way to finish last. Stewards even queried his "vigour" or lack of it throughout, but the young man was spared the rod due to his "limited experience".

There was a silver lining, though.

Jamil was guilty of the two worst "don'ts" in the art of rating the pace.

But if he is a quick learner, he could turn the two "wrongs into a right".

A pep talk from his master Donna Logan also drilled the message home in no uncertain terms.

After the "night and day" rides, he should have a fair idea how to find the happy medium at his third ride, Super Posh in Sunday's $30,000 Class 5 race over 1,000m.

The 25-year-old Marine Parade resident not only did that at Super Posh's last-stride win, but he also showed ice-cold composure when things went awry.

"I told Jamil, 'listen, at your first ride, you went too fast and at the last one, you went too slow," said Logan.

"This time, you need to get it right. He listened to instructions, and he did get it right.

"I told him to go forward and find the fence as this horse hangs out and he's a horse who won't sprint. You just have to keep him busy.

"He couldn't find the fence, but he didn't panic. Ronnie Stewart's horse (The Jun) was on his inside but three wide, there was another horse (Cash Out) that kept him in.

"When he came back to scales, I asked him if he knew he'd won, he said, 'no, I don't know'.

"The smile on his face when I told him he'd won was priceless. This is what it means when you work hard, you get the rewards.

"Mark Walker sent me a text to tell me it was an outstanding ride from the young Jamil."

The former four-time Singapore champion trainer was Jamil's mentor for a couple of years before he joined Logan, but the first to shape him was former trainer and eight-time Singapore champion jockey Saimee Jumaat.

"I was working in the assembly and delivery of sofas after school, but I wanted to learn about horses as I love animals. I tried my luck, and first joined Saimee (Jumaat) as a syce," said Jamil, whose family has no association with racing.

"I was taking care of horses and then one day, Saimee asked me if I wanted to become a jockey as I had the right body and weight.

"That's how I started. I then moved to Mark Walker when Saimee stopped training and, when Mr Walker also left this year, I went to Donna Logan."

While not all apprentices hit the target so early, Sunday's milestone is unlikely to make Jamil's head swell.

"I'm very happy I won my first race. I didn't expect to win on this horse as I still don't have the confidence," he said.

"This horse likes to hang out, but luckily, I had another horse on my outside. I didn't know if I won, but Ronnie told me 'well done'."

He certainly got a lot more pats on his back as soon as he came out from his hot shower. Super Posh was his only booking for the day.

"My mother, brother, sister and her husband, and my girlfriend wanted to come today, but I told them there was no need to if they were busy," he said.

"They insisted, I said 'okay lah'. They brought me luck."