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Takaoka saddles first
winner
SINGAPORE, 18 April 2003 |
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Japanese trainer Hideyuki
Takaoka celebrated his first success in Singapore when he saddled IPPONZEOI
to victory in the Benchmark 81 - 1,600m handicap (Race 8) at Kranji here
tonight.
Ridden by apprentice M Zaki, the four-year-old bay Japanese horse by Assatis out of Stuck On You (by South Atlantic) revelled in the soft track when he romped home by four lengths in his fourth start in Singapore. It was also the first success by a Japanese horse in Singapore. Formerly attached with the National Association of Racing, Takaoka was based in Hokkaido and has been a trainer for 10 years since October 1992, saddling 337 winners. Takaoka finished fourth in the premiership in 1999 with 49 winners before wresting the title the following year with 54 winners. Before taking up training, Takaoka was a jockey and managed to rake up a tally of 524 wins, including 20 in Graded races. IPPONZEOI was a winner of two races as a two-year-old and was also placed six times in 11 outings in Japan. 
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