Nuqman, a man in a hurry
Talented jockey marks his first day as a senior rider with a double at Sungai Besi
KUALA LUMPUR - Nuqman Rozi marked his promotion to the senior ranks by winning on his first two rides at Sungai Besi on Jan 4.
Nuqman won the jockey’s premiership while still an apprentice in 2023 with 56 winners and led the table comfortably in the first half of 2024 – until a suspension put paid to his title defence.
Still, he ended up ninth on the table with 26 winners.
Nuqman showed that he is truly back and meant businness with a superb display of horsemanship to take the first two races on Cash King and Selangor Star.
Cash King ($50) sprang an upset in the first race of the new season when he came from a long way back to beat the odds-on favourite Surfing Cloud (Shafiq Rizuan) in the RM32,000 (S$9,700) Class 5B (1,300m) handicap.
The New Zealand-bred five-year-old gelding by The King won once in 14 runs in Singapore and was unplaced in his first three runs at Kranji. It was not surprising that punters neglected him in the betting.
Selangor Star ($31) was 10 lengths off the pacemaker and favourite Valerie Pegasus (Azizi Awang) at the halfway mark, before storming home in the final 200m to win the RM38,000 Class 5A (1,300m) handicap.
Born To Win (Lim Aun Kean) came home well to beat Valerie Pegasus for second.
“Today is my first day as a professional jockey and I am happy it started off well,” said Nuqman.
“I started whipping Cash King from as far out as the 600m because he wasn’t interested in the race at all.
“I took him wide in the straight to look for better ground and he responded well and finished strongly to win.”
Nuqman said the drop in class and track conditions could be behind Selangor Star’s sudden surge in form.
“Selangor Star was recently demoted to Class 5. He had a joint problem before and the track conditions helped him today,” he said.
“I also brought him out wide for better ground and he also finished very well.”
A US-bred nine-year-old by Niagara Causeway, Selangor Star boasted five previous wins but his last success was achieved in June 2023.
Last season’s champion jockey Ruzaini Supien was also off the mark for the new season when he partnered Maze ($22) to win the RM49,000 Class 4A (1,150m) sprint on the No. 2 track.
The newly minted champion trainer Simon Dunderdale, who saddled 73 winners in 2024, dished out a big-priced double with Fort Mustang ($33) and Ong Mari ($145).
Ong Mari is a Zoustar five-year-old who was only in his second Malaysian start after a plain unplaced debut on Dec 1.
But he was a different proposition one month later when he came from last under Shafiq to round up his nine rivals in the RM49,000 Class 4A (1,400m).
SELANGOR TURF CLUB / TURFONLINE
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