Jockey Jake Bayliss’ career in Singapore is finally up and running after the young hoop landed a double at Kranji on Saturday.
The situation surrounding Covid-19 and other formal protocols and paperwork initially delayed Bayliss’s scheduled arrival in Singapore to the point where he only had his first taste of race action at his new home base last week.
At that meeting Bayliss had six rides with his best result being a second place aboard Gold Star, but on Saturday he turned around his fortunes in no uncertain terms to make a big statement and really announce arrival on the scene.
Not that it was an easy day for Bayliss to begin with. Another two second place finishes in his first two rides of the day … aboard Istataba (for trainer Michael Clements) and Don De Le Vega (for fellow Australian Tim Fitzsimmons) … would have brought a touch of frustration to any rider looking to land a first win in his new racing jurisdiction … but it was third time lucky for Bayliss on the day when he guided Nate’s Honour to end-to-end victory in the sixth race on the card.
Two races later Bayliss was back at it again, this time scoring on the Ricardo Le Grange trained Rocket Ryane.
Bayliss would end the day with two winners, two second places, one third and one fourth placing from six rides … a confidence boosting day overall, if ever there was one!
“I had pencilled down the first two rides as my two best chances,” said Bayliss, talking to Singapore Turf Club media.
“When they both ran second, my two bullets were gone, and I thought I was done for the day. But I kept showing up and got the win.”
“Jake was a bit down when he walked down to the parade ring, he just had another second,” said Tim Fitzsimmons, trainer of Bayliss’s first winner Nate’s Honour.
“I told him to just be patient and it’ll come, and it came straight away. He had four or five rides for me before that, and he rode all of them perfectly.
“I’m sure he’ll ride plenty of winners here.”
