Din Azis in top form.

Underrated jockey Din Azis continues his excellent start to the new 2008 season with his first Kranji treble at the Wednesday night fibresand meeting, incidentally notching a perfect score as he was booked for only three rides.He struck twice in quick successions in Race 1 and 2 with Valiant Master and Able Win respectively, before wrapping up the proceedings with an easy win in the last race with Rapidflare.
While the lanky Adelaide-trained rider made it pillar-to-post with Rapidflare, he elected for waiting tactics in the two early wins, though the more spectacular of the two would have to be the one aboard the Brian Dean-trained Able Win.
Dropping to his customary role of backmarker in the $55,000 Class 4 race over 1600m, Able Win was still last at the 200m mark after Lim’s Glory (Danny Beasley) and favourite Strategy (Mark Ewe) had matched motors in front.
But Din Azis conjured up an eye-catching little slalom number inside the last furlong with Able Win threading his way to hit the lead.
Din Azis’ mount however gave the impression he was stopping in the shadows of the post, allowing Sinma Victory (Eurico da Silva) to reel him back in, but the winning post arrived on time with only a head splitting the pair.
Din Azis was having his first ride aboard Able Win but spoke to several other jockeys who had ridden the gelding previously.
“I spoke to Saimee and a few others and they all said he’s a bit lazy,” Din Azis said. “They said to keep him on the bit and don’t let him relax too much.
“I was certainly happy with the pace up front,” he said.
Dean said he chased Din Azis for the ride because the gelding had no weight.
“He needs a strong rider and that’s why I chose Din for the ride,” Dean said. “He’s a horse that gets back in his races and needs a lot of luck.
“He’s a horse that has four or five good runs before he puts in a poor one and then it’s time for a freshen.
“He’s now won five races. That’s been a great effort by the horse,” he said.
Able Win, a seven-year-old US-bred son of Southern Halo from the Generous mare Quinella, has now had 57 starts and amassed around the $190,000 for the Lucky Stable.
The winning ride aboard a reinvigorated Valiant Master in the $35,000 Class 5 race (1100m) was less arduous for Din Azis to carve out.
After travelling in third, the $25 shot swept past the short-priced favourite Dusky Maiden (Mohd Airy) to score comprehensively by two lengths.
Trained by Charles Leck, Valiant Master was having his first start since missing the start hopelessly over 1000m on December 20.
Din Azis said a lot of barrier practice had been put into the gelding since his start effort.
“He missed the start badly at his last start and had done a lot of work on him in the barriers since,” he said.
“That practice certainly worked as he jumped a lot better tonight.”
Din Azis' memorable evening ended on a perfect note when Rapidflare made it back-to-back wins in the $55,000 Class 4 race over 1200m. He however had a small fright when the Leck-trained galloper seemed to take fright a few metres shy of the winning post.'He stopped. I think he got spooked by the lights,' he said.Din Azis on the other hand did not mind being in the limelight on Wednesday. He is now joint-third with Robbie Fradd and Noel Callow, all on nine wins, two short of leader Saimee Jumaat who had a blank day.
The Big G
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