Comeback jockey Benny Woodworth steered No More Delay to a valiant win in a two-way battle in the $75,000 Novice race over 1200m on Sunday.
The Malaysian hoop left Singapore after his last ride on Dancing Rain on February 20 last year to take up a riding contract in Mauritius, followed by two short riding stints in Dubai and France.
From his book of three rides, the 48-year-old rider thought the first ride of the day - and his seventh at Kranji since returning on April 2 - was his best chance.
Woodworth had No More Delay closing in on War Commander (Wong Chin Chuen) at the 300m. A stirring battle ensued with the $26 shot eventually getting a head in front of War Commander.
The two were so dominant that the late-finishing Shang Chi (Matthew Kellady) ran another four lengths away in third.
Favourite Blazing Kid (Oscar Chavez) sat just off the speed set by Street Of Dreams (Simon Kok Wei Hoong) and War Commander, but knocked up in the straight. The Jason Ong-trained gelding was later found to be lame in his left fore after the race.
The winning time was 1min 12.21secs over the 1200m on the Polytrack.
Even if No More Delay was first-up after 154 days when third in a similar race, Woodworth was not at all taken aback by the win.
"I'm not surprised he won first-up. I expected him to run good," said the popular jockey, whose last winner in Singapore was Buddy Buddy in November 2020 for ex-Kranji trainer Mark Walker.
"He cantered on Tuesday morning with me, and he felt fresh.
"He ran very well at his last two starts, even if he only ran third at his last start.
"I think he will be better on the turf and he can go up to the mile."
Despite No More Delay being a late bloomer, winning trainer and owner Daniel Meagher had always held a high opinion of him. He will also target the upcoming three-year-old feature races for him.
"Danny (Beasley) went down to the Inglis Yearling sale two years ago as my assistant trainer and we bought a few horses," said the Australian conditioner, who bagged a double on Sunday, courtesy of Lim's Zoom ($30) who took out the opener, the $30,000 Class 5 Division 1 race (1100m) under replacement rider Simon Kok Wei Hoong.
"He picked him out, and said to me, 'you must buy him', so credit to him. He's a horse I fully own, and we really like him.
"When he was a yearling, we thought he was slow-maturing, but he's very talented. We have a lot of time for him.
"He's really shown that he's got ability, and he was very impressive today.
"I told Benny to jump well and ride him where he's happy, and he rode him very well.
"We have been good friends for very long, and I'm happy that I gave Benny his first winner back.
"And now, he's (No More Delay) going for the three-year-old races in June and July."
The Group 3 Singapore Three-Year-Sprint (1200m) and the Group 2 Singapore Three-Year-Old Classic (1400m) will be held on June 18 and July 9 respectively. They were the first two Legs of the discontinued Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge series, which also featured the Group 1 Singapore Guineas (1600m) as the final Leg.
With two wins and one placing in five starts, No More Delay has now earned close to $90,000 in prizemoney for Meagher.
