Wong strikes win no. 200

Malaysian jockey Wong Chin Chuen reached another milestone in Singapore, with Be You handing him his 200th Kranji winner on Saturday.

The former Penang-based rider has seldom put a foot wrong since leaving his former master Dr Tan Swee Hock (Kranji trainer Tan Kah Soon's father) to head down south in 2015.

Two Singapore champion apprentice jockey titles - in 2016 and 2017 - are there to confirm the prodigious talent shown from the day he rode his very first Kranji winner Secondwave on July 19, 2015.

He has bounced back from a visa scare during the Covid-19 border shutdown with Malaysia, coming back stronger than ever as a senior rider.

The Kranji Mile triumph on the Daniel Meagher-trained Lim's Lightning one month ago was the icing on the cake.

It was his Group 1 breakthrough after two earlier Group 3 successes at Kranji.

Be You's gutsy win in the $50,000 Countofmontecristo 2017 Stakes, a Class 4 race over 1,400m, may pale in comparison in terms of prestige and 200 may be just a number. But Wong was no less pleased with the $21 victor.

"I haven't been counting my winners but I'm very happy I got my 200th win here," said the Kedah-born rider, who also had 40 winners in Malaysia before his relocation.

"When the horse hit the front, he was a bit lost. He had pressure from the outside, but we're lucky we got to the line first.

"Auric Stable has been a good owner in Singapore, and I'm glad I rode a winner for them."

Revered as one of the oldest colours on the Malayan Racing Association circuit, the red-and-yellow "fire hydrant" silks have flashed past the winning post at Bukit Timah and Kranji countless times for trainers Teh Choon Beng, John Brink and, more recently, for the Baertschiger family.

They may have not shone at the highest level of late. But aptly, Be You is a full brother to their last Group winner, Be Bee, in the 2018 Group 3 Singapore Three-Year-Old Sprint (1,200m), which saw this year's renewal won by Golden Monkey seven races later.

Both Be You and Be Bee are by Showcasing out of the Fusaichi Pegasus mare My Other Woman.

"It's good to get another win for Jerry Sung," said Baertschiger, whose father Don also trained for the popular owner.

"This horse has been knocking on the door. He was looking for 1,400m, but it's been hard to find one on the programme.

"He's an easy horse to ride, except for that day he bucked Matty off after the start. That was totally out of the blue.

"We got a bit lucky when the second horse (Boomba) blew the start. But that's racing. Their bad luck was our good luck."

The favourite Boomba missed the kick by four lengths, but nearly pulled off the impossible feat when he came rattling home for Manoel Nunes on the outside only to fall agonisingly short by half a length.

Baertschiger does not book Wong all that often.

But, with stable jockey Matthew Kellady sidelined through an ankle injury, the Australian sure remembered those who came and put all hands on deck.

"With Matty out, CC helps out at the stable, as well as Jake Bayliss and Shafrizal Saleh. I have 30 horses and only two track riders," he said.

Bayliss also got his reward astride Shang Chi ($19), who overcame a wide alley to take out the $50,000 Kiwi Karma 2015 Stakes, a Class 4 Division 2 race (1,200m).

The brace takes Baertschiger to eighth spot on 16 winners in the Singapore trainer's premiership, 14 off leader Tim Fitzsimmons.