South African jockey Derreck David bounced back to the winner’s enclosure with a riding double aboard Roan Ranger and Viviano on Friday night.

David, who missed two days of racing (January 2 and 6) through a careless riding charge, was delighted with the brace, but also with the way he has been performing in general despite going through 15 rides without hitting the line first.

The lightweight rider had five seconds and one third to show for before the Sonny Yeoh-trained Roan Ranger ($21) opened his account, both for David and himself (at start No 23) in the $35,000 Class 5 race over 1400m.

David then rode a good third aboard $83 outsider Gold Customer in the next race, the $35,000 Class 5 Division 2 race over 1600m, which was taken out by Gold Customer’s stablemate General Conatus (Amirul Ismadi) before he went for seconds in the next event.

Riding lukewarm $34 chance Viviano for trainer Mark Walker in the $100,000 Open Benchmark 89 race over 1200m, the 2015 Mauritius champion jockey showed great poise in the saddle as they sweated for a run upon straightening before punching through a providential gap at the 300m.

David even made a biblical reference in describing the lucky breaks he got aboard the Keeper five-year-old when all looked lost.

“It opened up like the Red Sea. Sometimes you sit behind waiting for an opening and you have nowhere to go,” said David who was the only rider at the double for the night.

“I wanted to go to the outside down the back when MM (Firdaus) went around horses (on Mr Fantastic), but I decided to go inside.

“When he saw daylight, he really quickened away. I did not expect him to win in this company.

“But the trainer told me he had been unlucky at his last two starts. The way he turned it on tonight was not expected at all.”

Walker said the Raffles Racing Stable-owned sprinter has not been having much luck of late, and was indeed pleased he had been able to showcase his true ability on Friday night.

“He’s a horse who keeps improving, but at his last run, Alan Munro said an apprentice annoyed him the whole way,” said Walker.

“He hasn’t had much luck lately and it was great to get a win for Raffles Racing, who has been supporting me for a while now.

“He’s won over 1400m before and I will probably keep him to the 1200m-1400m distances.”

With that sixth win, Viviano saw his bank account swell by another $55,000 to around $280,000 for the Raffles Racing Stable of Dato Yap Kin San.

Though David’s first winner of the night, Roan Ranger, was 53 points inferior to Viviano’s 79, he was even more effusive about how Yeoh’s long-suffering maiden has finally broken his duck.

“I’ve spent a lot of time with Roan Ranger. He was a horse that was hard to ride in trackwork and took fright at everything,” said David.

“I just took him for a walk one day, up the hill and down and around the Hong Kong track, just to let him relax. I rode him every day and even gave him a hose-down after his work.

“He’s no champ but you could tell the difference tonight. He just kept going when he hit the front.”

David hoped the double delight would herald more success at his new six-month tenure at Kranji.

“All in all, I’ve had a good start to the season with two winners and five seconds from 18 rides,” he said.

“My two winners tonight had 50.5kgs and 52kgs. I’m a lightweight jockey and that is a big advantage here, trainers need such lightweight jockeys.”