Derreck David was pinching himself hard after he rode a winner at his very first Kranji ride, Poseidon – and in Friday night’s feature race for good measure.

The 27-year-old South African jockey was already grateful he had been given a chance to “live his lifelong dream” of riding in Singapore at an early stage of his relatively young career, but to win first-up was the icing on the cake he had not quite expected. In his own words, it was “unreal”.

The long and frustrating wait before he got the nod probably made him savour that moment even more. David has tried a few times to get in before but was unsuccessful, and when he finally got the stamp of approval, his original six-week tenure was whittled down to only one week through no fault of his – long processing time for his work permit.

The former South African champion apprentice jockey and reigning Mauritius champion jockey could have moaned or felt shortchanged but he remained positive.

To him, the six rides – two on Friday and four on Sunday – was still a crack in the door, and how he flung it wide open with a brilliant front-running ride aboard Poseidon in the $125,000 Racing Guide Classic (1400m).

Known as the “Prince of the Kilometre” in Mauritius for his knack at getting horses out of the barriers in a flash in 1000m scampers, David showed his reputation was not usurped.

Bouncing Poseidon ($36) out from the second worst barrier, David eagerly scrubbed up his mount until he was two lengths clear before crossing to the steel. The Gold Centre four-year-old was inclined to reef and tear a little, but David showed silky skills as he gave him a breather before they cornered for the judge as the horse to run down.

The $24 favourite Dragon Fury (Danny Beasley) and Hughsy (Wong Chin Chuen) closed him down but David had not gone for broke yet, easing Poseidon off to the middle part of the track first before throwing everything he had at him, like his life depended on it inside the last 100m.

Dragon Fury came huffing and puffing but was beaten a short head by Poseidon for that perfect mythological snapshot. The Dragon slain by the God of the Sea thanks to a divine ride from a mastercraftman named David.

“My dream has come true. I’m very emotional now, it feels unreal,” said David who had his equally ecstatic wife Angelique by his side after the win.

“It was already a dream to ride here at the Singapore Turf Club and to win at my first ride, it doesn’t get any better than this.

“I have to say the wide draw was a concern, but he really pinged the gates tonight. I got him out quickly, which is something I’m pretty good at and when I saw a couple of horses inside me were slow I knew half the battle would be won once we crossed over.

“He travelled beautifully and in the straight, with only 52.5kg on his back, he didn’t stop. I tried to come out to intimidate the others but I didn’t have to as he had his ears pricked and never stopped.

“He’s a nice progressive up-and-coming horse and I’d like to thank Mr Cliff Brown for putting me on him.”

The feeling was mutual with the Australian conditioner who had never met or heard of David before, but still took a chance with him and was repaid with a third consecutive win from the Olympian Stable-owned gelding.

“I was getting to know him and he was getting to know me, too. And we got a winner, how good is that?” said Brown. A

“This horse showed good gate speed at his last win with Rueven (Ravindra) and I told Derreck to do the same from the wide barrier tonight. He rode him very well and it’s good for him he got a winner at his very first ride here.

“Things are going really well with this horse and the owners too. They’re having a ball but we’ll just take it as it comes.

“He’s an easy horse to train. All we have to do is just get him ready, I don’t deserve much credit.

“He is a progressive horse and we may look at the Singapore Four-Year-Old series with him.

With that fifth win, Poseidon was completing a three-in-a-row with earnings closing in on the $320,000 mark.

– South China Morning Post