Old stager Tangible Assets held on for dear life to give comeback jockey Anandan Subramaniam his first win since coming back from a lengthy ban on Friday night.
After serving a 1 ½-year disqualification for his handling of the horse Baby Face in a Kranji race on July 6, 2012, the Penang-born jockey was given a second chance by the Singapore Turf Club licensing committee in February.
Riding a lot of trackwork for trainer Hideyuki Takaoka, Anandan was finally able to return to race-riding a few weeks later on March 4.
Truth be told, quality and quantity were not quite there for the reformed hoop, but his patience was finally rewarded at his 40th ride in the $35,000 Class 5 Division 2 race over 1700m.
The rising nine-year-old, who once mixed it with the likes of dual Gold Cup-Derby winner Quechua, and not too long ago, Time Odyssey and Power Play, sat in the box-seat before switching out four wide around the home turn to launch his challenge.
The Stay Gold eight-year-old struck the front at the 200m but those ageing legs were not as quick as before. His 41-year-old rider was also trying his best to coax him to the line as the threat hailing from Reysha (Kanichiro Fujii) and Klever Warrior (Matthew Kellady) kept growing inside the last 100m.
But the winning post came to their rescue on time with Tangible Assets holding a neck advantage on Reysha with Klever Warrior third another length away. The winning time was 1min 47.3secs for the 1700m on the Polytrack.
Anandan looked relieved more than anything that the long road to redemption was finally over.
“It’s great to finally get a winner though it was hard work to get this horse over the line,” said Anandan whose last win was scored aboard Idealistic Moment on September 9, 2012.
“I was happy where he was but I popped off the fence coming off the back. It’s a 1700m race and I wanted to make my move early.
“He hit the front but he didn’t kick clear. I wished I had two whips, but he did enough to score.
“Big thank you to Mr Takaoka for his support from the day I came back as a track rider for him. He has really helped me.”
The Japanese handler was delighted for the jockey – and also the horse who had not found the shortest way home for almost two years – since July 18, 2014. In a jocular mood, he was able to see a self-deprecating analogy in the win.
“He’s an old horse now, just like me. Legs are not so quick,” said Takaoka.
“But he can still win in Class 5. His work has been good leading up to that race and I thought he had an outside chance.
“I’m happy for Anandan. He rode the horse at his last start and I decided to put him back on and it’s paid off.”
Paying long odds of $77, Tangible Assets was recording his fifth win from 51 runs for the Big Valley Stable for stakes earnings that have now tipped over the $300,000 mark.
