Evert van Breukelen, who
returned to action with three runners last week after serving a six-month
suspension, made it count with the aptly-named TIME TO SHINE here today, his
only runner of the afternoon.
The New Zealand gelding has
been dismal in all his six starts in Singapore and another four runs in
Malaysia until today.
But starting for the first
time under van Breukelen, the last of three bothers still in the game (the
late Johann and Marinus being the other two), TIME TO SHINE was being tested
over 2000m for the first time today and clearly relished the trio to win by
one and three-quarter lengths.
Unsurprisingly, TIME TO
SHINE was not fancied in the betting and paid RM126 for a win.
Meanwhile, Richard Lines is
assured of a third consecutive trainer's title after saddling LANDING NORTH
to victory. It was his 42nd winner of the season and is four clear at the
top of the table. His nearest challenger Johnny Lim has only one runner
tomorrow.
The fight for the jockey's
title will go down to the wire tomorrow after Azhar Ismail and Jai Shankar
both booted home a winner each. Shankar's win came courtesy of emergency
acceptor SAPPHIRE STAR who gained a berth on race day.
Azhar Ismail maintained a
one-win lead over Shankar (50 to 49) after winning the last race astride
KAWAN STREET.
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