Seow in a race to save Kranji’s feline friends

Jerlyn Seow is aiming to go back-to-back in the apprentice jockey’s honours, but she is also riding in another race these days.

Singapore’s only female rider currently sits on top, five winners clear of Jamil Sarwi, the same rider who kept her on her toes in her champion title-winning season in 2023.

With 14 meetings left before the season – and Singapore racing – ends on Oct 5, she is far from home.

On whose side time will be, depends on whether Jamil starts to gather momentum or whenever Seow snaps a run of outs since her last win aboard Pacific Scout on April 27.

At one time, Seow was cruising solo with Jamil suspended for two months, but Donna Logan’s apprentice has since returned a winner with Rook’s Gambit on June 1.

Either way, the clock is ticking, but also for Seow’s new fight for a cause.

Already known as an animal lover, especially cats going on her menagerie of six cats and one dog at her Canberra home, Seow has begun a crusade to save Kranji’s resident cats.

While horses are seen walking or galloping around the track every day, their smaller four-legged counterparts of the feline kind have also been part of the landscape from Day 1.

Seen mostly taking their all-day catnaps around stables, they are the noiseless furry friends you are either oblivious to, or you fuss over like your own pets.

Seow belongs to the latter, and while first and foremost worried about her own future with the imminent shutdown, she did not forget Ramen, Kopi, Joey, Thomas et al.

“When the club announced the racing closure last year, we knew it would affect our careers, the horses, but also the cats at Kranji,” she said.

“They are living things, and they are dependent on the stable staff to feed them. I myself have been looking after them since the days I was with (trainers) Mark Walker and Donna Logan.

“I know (trainer Tan) Kah Soon and a track rider named Raju also go around feeding them, but when the club closes in three months’ time, there won’t be any manpower to look after them.

“What will become of them since we won’t have access to the stables any more?”

Unlike the fate of hundreds of staff, which to-date has still not been fully addressed, Seow knew that she had to get off her backside.

Though her first approach did not meet her needs, she did not give up – she set up her own cat adoption campaign.

“I went to Cat Welfare Society but their offer to help wastoneuter them,” she said.

“So, I decided to set up an Instagram page called Kranji Cats. I posted 42 individual profiles of around 50 cats I was able to round up.

“There are probably another 50 feral cats, who are harder to catalogue. They run away when I try to approach them, they usually just take the food and disappear.”

The 30-year-old soon realised riding winners was a lot easier.

“These are free-roaming cats. It’s a bit troublesome to find the right home for them,” she said.

“Here, they can move around, like I remember how five to six cats at Shane Baertschiger’s stable moved to Donna’s after Shane left, except for one who lives near the taxi stand.

“Such cats and the feral cats are harder to find.”

Once the posts were out, it was only half the battle won, though.

“We need to have genuine cat lovers who have houses which meet the criteria, for example the windows,” she said.

“Such cats get stressed and have a high tendency to escape. The last thing we want is for them to jump through a window from a high-rise unit.”

After careful screening, four lucky cats were successfully rehomed.

“So far, only four have been rehomed. They are Ramen and Kopi, who used to be with Stephen Crutchley, Pinky and Pretty from Leslie Khoo,” said Seow listing them like they were thoroughbreds prepared by those trainers.

“There’s not much time left. I hope all of them will find a home.”

While time is running out, Seow will have plenty of it in between races in the jockeys’ room on July 7.

She has picked up four rides, with a pair at either end of the 10-race programme – and a gap of 3½ hours in between.

On paper, Smart One and Pacific Master, who bookend her four rides in the first and last race respectively, are her best chances.

“I haven’t really looked at the card, to be honest, butI think Smart One in the first race may be my best chance,” said Seow who is also booked on long shots Silver Star and Southern Speed.

“Pacific Master ran second last time, but he’s in a strong field in the last race.

“It’s been two months since my last win. Let’s hope I can ride at least one winner this week.”

manyan@sph.com.sg