By Sharon Zhang
Relative newcomer Ejaz led the first three past the post to hand trainer Michael Clements a brilliant tierce result in the $75,000 Restricted Maiden race over 1200m on Sunday.
Leader-cum-race favourite Petrograd (Vlad Duric) finished a length away in second while Coin Toss (A’Isisuhairi Kasim) hung on well to run another two-and-a-quarters length away in third.
Both debutants lost no marks in their first race, but Ejaz ($17) got the upper hand after he gained momentum under race-partner Marc Lerner at the 300m, and quickly put the race to bed.
The winning time was 1min 9.95secs over 1200m on the Short Course.
It was the perfect send-off for the Zimbabwean-born handler, who went on to bag a treble on the day with Istataba ($12) and Tiger Roar ($13) (see later report).
He will fly off to South Korea on Monday and spend the rest of the week at the Seoul Racecourse as Polytrack specialist Celavi faces the starter in the Korea Racing Authority’s KRW 1 billion (S$1.04 million) Group 3 Korea Sprint (1200m) next Sunday.
Clements will worry about his first international runner later as he weighs in on the future of Ejaz after his first win.
“He was pretty green at his first start (third to Fadaboy in a similar race on July 24), he didn’t track up well out of the gates,” said the naturalised Singaporean.
“This horse came as a yearling, and in fact, all the first three horses did.
“He’s (Ejaz) got it done today and he’s a horse for the future.
“This horse is full of speed. We’ll get him up in class and then the three-year-old (feature) races, which is still some time away.
“There’s a few options, we may look at a Class 4 race next.”
Clements was referring to next year’s Group 3 Singapore Three-Year-Old Sprint (1200m) and the Group 2 Singapore Three-Year-Old Classic (1400m), which were the first two legs of the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge series. Unfortunately, the series was cancelled amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both races were won by the Tim Fitzsimmons-trained Golden Monkey this year.
Lerner, who first rode Ejaz at a winning trial on August 16, reckoned the three-year-old son of Street Boss overcame the odds to get off the mark at his second start.
“There were a lot of things against him, the Short Course and he was a bit slow out of the gates,” said the French jockey of his 18th winner this season.
“He’s still a bit green but he has improved a lot, and there’s plenty more to come.
“I told Michael we would be much more confident if he ran on the Poly(track), but he did everything right and was much more professional than he was at his first run.
“He’s very easy to ride and won quite easily this time. He doesn’t spend more energy than he needs to.
“Also, he’s not a big horse but he has got big strides. He can go over more ground.”
With one win and one third in two starts, Ejaz has now earned close to $50,000 for the Al-Arabiya Stable.
