Veteran trainer Leslie Kuu was also taking a walk on a memorable path when heading to the winner’s circle for the first time this year.
The victory at Melody Fair as a $ 17 chance over 1600m in Saturday’s Maiden Race not only brought a flashback of his first victory as a jockey 50 years ago, but also rocked him in the 70’s. I traveled back in time to intense days.
“My first winner as an apprentice jockey was also a horse called Ivan Allan’s Melody Fair,” said a 68-year-old Singaporean.
“I decided to call this horse Melody Fair for purely sentimental reasons, and now he has given me the first 2022 winner.
“Ivan had two American friends who were singing Elvis Presley’s song. The two sisters also sang the Bee Gees Melody Fair.”
The 7-time Murray Racing Association Champion Trainer and the 3-time Hong Kong Champion were one of Kuu’s biggest supporters in the early days of the Katong Boy Saddle.
With the victory over the restarted version of Melody Fair, Khoo has returned to the event months ago, but he can only expect it to be more than a one-time event at Blue Moon.
Kuu has experienced one of the worst starts of the season since moving the stables from Ipoh to The Crunge in 2008.
It has been a 216-day slogan without greeting the judge since Super Generus on November 6th last year.
The times haven’t always been so bad since his first Crunge winners Joe and Jazika on July 4, 2008.
In his third season of 2011, he finished second with Patrick Shaw with 66 winners and remained in the top 10 for the next two years.
He then stabilized the ship with a mid-table finish and a decent double-digit carry until 2019, when corruption began. Covid-19 made the slide worse, but this season I’ll take the cake.
After 100 runners returned without victory or joy, Kuu was left with an enviable wooden spoon.
He had a duck egg next to his name at the end of the 22 trainers – until Saturday.
Fans who missed his carefree way and strange dad’s jokes in a post-race interview became full when he finally “broke an egg.”
“I’m glad I broke the egg. This egg was an ostrich egg, not a normal egg,” said Kuu, who was logged in to the 453rd winner.
“Thanks to all the trainers who congratulated me and supported me in the trainer room.
“It took me six months to win the first winner. I also thank the owner (LSS Stable) for their support.”
Two years ago, Kuu wouldn’t have expected his lack of support to kneel him.
“I didn’t buy a new horse for two years. I only had an old horse left. I needed new blood to go again,” he said.
“It’s only now that I can buy four or five new horses, and of many, Melody Fair has adapted a little faster.
“He’s more positive. I was convinced he would run the first three times today.”
Riding on Benny Woodworth, Dueld’s 4-year-old kid was dragged from 500 meters behind his favorite $ 14 rim, Puncak Jaya (Jake Bayliss), after calming four pairs. ..
The long-shot missile Rain (Koh Teck Huat) boldly stuck to his lead. When Lim’s Puncak Jaya took the lead momentarily, he eventually collapsed.
But the last plunge house was Kuu’s nod to his groundbreaking horse from half a century away.
Woodworth is 20 years young and hasn’t been born yet, but Malaysians remember the days when they were saddle companions.
“I’m very happy to beat Leslie. It’s very special because I rode with Leslie when he was a jockey,” he said.
“For him, especially for his first winner of the year, I’m happy for him, and I’m happy for myself.”
