Tan returns to winner's circle at Malaysia comeback
KUALA LUMPUR - It is "lucky eight" for Singaporean trainer Jerome Tan, who saddled his first winner, Baby Twins, in Kuala Lumpur this year after the former Kranji-based handler returned to Malaysia.
Tan began training at his Penang base in 2009 for 10 years before he was granted stables by the Singapore Turf Club in 2019. He finished eighth on the Singapore trainers' log with 22 winners last year before racing came to a halt at Kranji. Tan decided to return to Malaysia to continue his training career, but would be based at Sungai Besi in Kuala Lumpur this time.
Baby Twins, who placed seven times in 23 starts at Kranji under Tan's care before moving to Kuala Lumpur, was his eighth runner since Jan 31.
The five-year-old chestnut won once from three starts as a juvenile in the UK in 2022 and showed promise with a third on debut in Singapore on March 25, 2023. He then finished sixth to January in the Group 3 Singapore Three-Year-Old Sprint (1,200m) second-up.
Baby Twins did not win in Singapore. After two barrier trials in Kuala Lumpur this year, his skills were put to the test first-up, five months after his last unplaced run at Kranji on Sept 28.
It seemed the switch to Malaysia has worked for Baby Twins.
Ridden by Shafiq Rizuan, the Happy Baby Stable-owned horse surged to the front after travelling about 150m in the RM45,000 (S$13,500) Class 4B race (1,150m) on Feb 16.
Friend Of Honor (Wong Kam Chong) jumped the best in the field of 10 and set the early pace.
The race was run in the rain but Baby Twins ($93) took it like a duck to water, and quickly took over the lead from Friend Of Honor as the race progressed.
The son of Mondialiste ended up tearing away to a 5¾-length win from last-start winner, Thunder Star (Winston Cheah Wei Wen). Lim's Unique (Laercio de Souza) stuck on for third, half a length away.
The winning time was 1min 8.21sec for the 1,150m on the yielding track.
Due to inclement weather, the last four races on the 12-card meeting were cancelled. Baby Twins was Tan's fourth and last runner in Race 8. While he had three other runners – Benbo, Raging Rabbit and Super Baby – in the earlier races, they finished unplaced.
Tan's last win in Malaysia came in the form of a double from Happy Baby and Rich And Smart in Penang on Nov 3, 2018, while his last winner in Kuala Lumpur was Ghost Bank on Jan 21 that year. Nevertheless, Tan was still glad to re-visit the winner's enclosure at Sungai Besi.
"It's good to have a winner in Malaysia again," said Tan.
Shafiq, however, had more to say about Baby Twins' first win in Malaysia.
"The horse was fresh," said the Malaysian hoop.
"I galloped him (Baby Twins) last Tuesday. He trained well but went like a one-pace horse.
"But I was confident that he would run on well, especially on the No. 2 track. He went like a machine today."
Tan started out as a syce with Penang trainer Cecil Robert in 1998 and worked his way up to the position of a stable supervisor.
In 2005, he obtained his assistant trainer's licence and joined ex-Kranji trainer Tan Hor Khoon, before transferring to another former Kranji trainer Lionel Lee. Tan then worked under trainer Roslan Pawanteh for a few months before he was granted a trainer's licence on June 23, 2009.
He trained 190 winners in Penang, with his highest acclaim coming in the Group 1 Perak Derby with Mr Ambassador in 2012. Tan also chalked up 118 winners in six years of training in Singapore.
Elsewhere in the meeting, two pairs of trainers and jockeys teamed up to salute in four other races at Sungai Besi on Feb 16.
The first successful combination came from trainer Johnny Lim Boon Thong and leading jockey Nuqman Rozi, who pulled off a double with Ace Sovereign ($72) in the RM38,000 Class 5A event (1,200m) in Race 1 and Emerald Lisi ($23) in the RM53,000 Class 3 event (1,400m) in Race 6.
Trainer Wayne Lim and jockey Aify Yahaya also scored a brace after they combined with Miej ($74) and Rocky Pegasus ($46) to salute in the RM38,000 Class 5 event (1,600m) in Race 3 and the RM45,000 Open Novice contest (1,400m) in Race 5 respectively. SELANGOR TURF CLUB/TURFONLINE
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