The Singapore Turf Club has granted 30 stable boxes each to two newcomers, Richard Lim and Stephen Crutchley, with effect from the new upcoming 2022 season.
RICHARD LIM
The Ipoh-born Richard Lim, 40, is a former Malaysian champion jockey who was first indentured to the late Lim Hoon Hooi. Despite being rather tall for a jockey, Lim enjoyed a successful 16-year-long career across both sides of the Causeway with a haul of 262 winners, most memorably, the 2006 Group 2 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (1800m) on King And King when he earned the rare privilege of being presented his trophy by Her Majesty the Queen herself.
Other feature wins came in the 2007 Group 2 EW Barker Trophy with World Airlines and two Tunku Gold Cups in Kuala Lumpur with After Me Please (2002) and Golden Rainbow (2006).
After Lim hung up his boots in 2015 due to increasing weight, he went on to work with King And King's trainer Steven Burridge as senior track rider before obtaining his assistant-trainer's licence in 2016.
Lim, who has a brother Wayne Lim Woei Chet who trains in Kuala Lumpur, joined trainer Jason Lim (no relation) at the end of that season.
Lim will kick off his training career with 14 horses, mostly transferred from Jason Lim, and intends to have another 10 joining his yard in the course of the year.
STEPHEN CRUTCHLEY
New Zealander Stephen Crutchley, 54, was a professional trainer in Whanganui from 2002 to 2014, during which time he saddled around 115 winners, the most notable being Mi Jubilee with whom he captured the Group 1 Ellerslie Sires Produce and the Group 2 Matamata Breeders' Stakes in 2005, and Rhysess who took out the Group 3 Cuddle Stakes in 2006.
Crutchley was also active as a horse seller in New Zealand, with 2013 Group 3 Paititi Gold Trophy winner Makkura the most famous among the horses he sold to Singapore. He kept a share with local owner Constance Cheng of Toast Trusts Stable.
He moved to Singapore in 2014 where he joined trainer Mark Walker as stable manager to Cheng. Crutchley has since moved around yards as assistant-trainer, namely to those of trainers John O'Hara, twice, Theo Kieser and more recently, Leslie Khoo.
Alongside Makkura, 2019 Group 2 EW Barker Trophy winner Fame Star are two of the best horses Crutchley has been associated with at Kranji.
Crutchley currently has 12 horses in work, mostly from Cheng, and expects to have another 20 new horses filling up his stable by year end.
