By Michael Lee, Singapore Turf Club
The promise was there, but to give an idea how competitive the Kranji riding ranks are, it’s taken Malaysian apprentice jockey Akmazani Mazuki 29 rides to finally get his name on the scoreboard on Saturday, with his beaming smile at the weigh-in telling the story.
It was not so much the enormity of the win per se given the 24-year-old rider does actually know the sweet taste of success having ridden eight winners across the border when he was indentured to Kuala Lumpur trainer Frank Maynard, but more the sheer relief of finally securing that elusive Kranji winner after coming so close with two seconds (Turf Beauty and Songgong Hera) and seven thirds at his new hunting ground.
If anything, he was starting to feel the increasing weight of expectation. Of the three newly-licensed apprentice jockeys this year (the other two are Singaporeans Faiz Khair, who has yet to open his score and Fahmi Rosman who has not had his first ride yet), the boom was always on the Kelantan-born Akmazani.
When he finished a close second on Songgong Hera at only his third day at the office, experts predicted that big moment shouldn’t take too long.
The wait has been stretching, though, and with each losing ride, the pressure rises accordingly, but what really matters is he has now ticked that box and his confidence can only grow exponentially from thereon in.
Akmazani, who has now transferred his indentures to trainer Jerome Tan, certainly oozed confidence at his only ride of the day, Bizar Wins, in the $30,000 Class 5 Division 1 race over 1100m.
Sun Step was quickest away for Koh Teck Huat, but riding to trainer Alwin Tan’s instructions, Akmazani kept pouring the pressure on the outside until Bizar Wins ($36) crossed to the front of the 12-horse field.
The young Malaysian showed great poise and pace judgement, only giving his mount his full head inside the last 250m.
On cue, Bizar Wins opened up to a sizeable lead that eventually proved unassailable. Olympia could only cut it down to just under three lengths into second place with Konan (Louis-Philippe Beuzelin) third another neck away. The winning time was 1min 5.75secs for the Polytrack 1100m.
“I’m very happy I won my first race in Singapore,” he said.
“I’m from Kelantan and that’s where I learned how to ride horses. I was first apprenticed to Frank Maynard in KL and rode eight winners in Malaysia.
“It’s Mr Maynard who told Mr Tan to take me as his apprentice in Singapore. He is very good and gives me good advice, but (Mohd) Zaki, Shafiq (Rizuan), Hakim (Kamaruddin) have also helped me a lot when I arrived, they tell me what mistakes I make in my riding.”
If Akmazani was on cloud nine, you could be forgiven for thinking trainer Alwin Tan was also at his first ever win as he scurried down to the winner’s stall for the photo, looking very emotional.
The former 2016 Singapore champion trainer had endured a tough start to the 2022 season, which probably hit its nadir when his Irish import Legacy Excel broke down at only his third Kranji start two races earlier and was later euthanased.
To see Bizar Wins score, in his light blue and white siks for good measure, was the best livesaver he could have hoped for.
“Racing is very tough nowadays, to get a winner is very hard,” said Tan.
“After my horse was put down earlier, I was really down, but luckily, Bizar Wins has come up to give me my first win for the season.
“It’s also the apprentice’s first win. He rode this horse two starts back, but he didn’t know him then.
“I told him he’s a frontrunner, but he got the experience now, and today, he was able to go forward. He rode the horse very well.”
From 14 starts, Bizar Wins, a four-year-old by Brazen Beau, has now taken his record to two wins, two seconds and one third for prizemoney that has hit around the $50,000 mark for Tan.
