ROCKET BOY GOES LIKE A MISSILE ON DEBUT

Rocket Boy went like a missile to score in his Malaysian debut in the Enrich Stakes 1200m sprint  in Ipoh on Saturday.

War Frontier was going for his fourth consecutive win in the set-weight event which featured just six runners but was shot down by Rocket Boy.

Ridden by How Yang, the four-year-old was among a line of four horses vying for the early lead. Heart Of Fire and Rocket Boy then broke away from the pack to dispute the lead. They led by four lengths from the rest of the field at the 800m.

Rocket Boy took a narrow advantage from Heart Of Fire going into the straight and began to pull away from the field from the 400m. With 200m to go, Rocket Boy was three lengths clear of Quicken Away and War Frontier.

War Frontier, who won his last three starts in Class 4, tried desperately to catch the leader in the final 100m but Rocket Boy held on to win by half a length.

“My instructions were to sit behind the pace but I was caught four-wide early,” said Yang. “I had no choice but to go forward when Heart Of Fire broke away to take the lead.”

“War Frontier came on to me in the concluding stages but my horse fought well to the finish.”

“The horse (Rocket Boy) will benefit from the run. He is only four and we expect him to win many more races,” said trainer Ismadi Ismail.

Rocket Boy raced in Australia as Worx and had a win and a second in four runs at two. Turning three, he captured a Class 1 race at Newcastle and had three minor placings in eight starts before he was bought at an online sale for A$26,000 and shipped to Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Salaam Namastey ended a run of six consecutive minor placings to win the Maiden event over 1200m, to the relief of trainer Kevin Coetzee.

Jockey Harmeet Singh Gill, who rode the son of Prince Of Brooklyn in five of those placings, showed a lot of confidence to settle the gelding second last of six runners.

The pacemaker Raayan broke away to a clear lead from the 300m while Salaam Namastey was four lengths adrift, still in fourth place.

But the New Zealand gelding began to open up in the final 150m to storm to the lead to win by half a length, with Raayan fighting back in the closing stages.

Salaam Namastey was unplaced in three runs at two and managed just one minor placing in five starts at three in New Zealand.

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