Via Michael Lee, Singapore Turf Club
Australian jockey Patrick Moloney has not taken too long to open his account at his short Singapore stint after he got on the board with newcomer Diamond Ring at his second day at the office on Sunday.
The 25-year-old lightweight rider from Melbourne kicked off his one-month contract on a fairly encouraging note on Friday night – one second and one third in three rides.
Jumping aboard $8 favourite Diamond Ring in Sunday’s $75,000 Restricted Maiden race over 1200m, Moloney did not let that golden opportunity to pay his first visit at the Kranji winner’s circle go begging this time.
Taking the Super Easy three-year-old to the front in the small seven-horse field (following the withdrawal of two runners, Mowgli and Beauty Luck), Moloney couldn’t, however, get his mount to come across when Master Sommelier (Matthew Kellady) kicked up on the rails.
He did well not to insist; staying in a one-off position did not make any difference in the end. Once he gave the debutant a few shakes of the rein in the home straight, Diamond Ring still had plenty of spark – and the race was all over in the blink of an eye.
Tobruk (Daniel Moor) was the only one who could have emerged as a source of danger inside the last 1 ½ furlongs, but he was also left chasing shadows – Diamond Ring romped in to score by five lengths from Tobruk with Mr Alejandro (Juan Paul van der Merwe) third another two lengths way. The winning time was 1min 12.41secs for the 1200m on the Polytrack.
“It’s nice to be on board after I didn’t have much luck with a couple of placings on Friday,” said Moloney.
“I’m lucky to get good opportunities from good trainers – like Donna Logan for this one.
“He was very green, but I was lucky I rode him in trackwork. I wanted to get to the fence, but I couldn’t, he wobbled and ran out on me.
“As I didn’t want him to burn the candles at both ends, I was happy to just let him travel where he felt confident and happy. He wanted to lug out, but he put it away quite well in the end.
“He can be like this now, but once he gets up in grade, he can’t afford to do that anymore. I also think he’ll be better off chasing another horse.”
Logan, who was achieving a 100% record as Diamond Ring was her only runner for the day, said she had no hesitation in booking Moloney even if he was unproven at Kranji.
“I needed a lightweight jockey, and there aren’t many options. Paddy came with a good reputation, and he’s a lightweight rider,” said the Kiwi handler.
“I thought why not book him and he’s got the job done. The horse is still immature, but he showed us a lot in his work, he’s a lovely horse.
“You’re never that confident with a first starter, but we thought he’d run a good race.”
