Talented apprentice jockey Iskandar Rosman was grinning from ear to ear when he returned to scales atop his first 2022 winner on Saturday, Sun Rectitude.
The Malaysian rider has indeed endured a frustrating start to the season, having gone through 51 rides without saluting.
The moment he had been pining for finally came in the opening event, the $30,000 Class 5 Division 1 race over 1200m, coincidentally aboard a horse prepared by the same trainer-owner combination who provided him with his last Kranji winner, Solo Sun, on November 20 last year, Desmond Koh and the Sun Bloodstock Stable.
Iskandar, who was formerly indentured to Lee Freedman before joining local handler Young Keah Yong last year when the Australian Hall of Fame trainer returned home, could not blame his skills as he felt he had been riding as well as ever, instead putting the lean spell down to his reduced two-kilo claim, and various other factors linked to his nationality and the work restrictions it comes with.
"I'm so happy I won my first race for the year," said Iskandar, who, because of border restrictions, has lived away from his young family in Johor Bahru across the border.
"Things have been very tough since my claim has dropped to two kilos, and also, because I'm Malaysian, I cannot help other trainers in trackwork (Malaysian apprentice jockeys can only ride trackwork for their master).
"My boss doesn't have many horses and most of the better ones already have jockeys, but he still supports me when he can."
Sun Rectitude is therefore a horse Iskandar does not work with, but whom he had a feel of from a prior engagement at his last start when third to Zygarde in a similar event five weeks ago.
"I rode this horse last time, and Mr Koh and his two B-trainers, SH (Soo Hin) Lee and YF (Yoon Fei) Leong told me I was a bit too 'kancheong' (Cantonese for nervous). I went back and studied the horse, and watched what went wrong.
"They told me to be more patient, but still ride him positive today as he was drawn wide. I was able to go forward and follow the pace, and at the top of the straight, I knew he could win."
Coming across from barrier No 11, the Sepoy six-year-old flanked leader Gamely (Jake Bayliss) throughout before putting the acid on him upon straightening. Gamely would not concede defeat but under a determined ride from Iskandar, Sun Rectitude eventually wore him down to score with half-a-length to spare.
Beer Garden (Akmazani Mazuki) took third place another half-length away. The winning time was 1min 10.71secs for the 1200m on the Short Course.
Sun Rectitude returned a $50 payout for the win and has now taken his record to three wins and seven placings from 28 starts for prizemoney that has now tipped over the $100,000 mark for the Macau-based Sun Bloodstock Stable.
The win seems to have spurred Iskandar on as he actually went on to ride a double aboard Mesmerizing (see later report), and from a longer-term perspective as well.
"When a jockey doesn't win, people forget them, but I hope that with that first winner, I'll get more support," he said.
