Anything can happen in racing…

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KUCHING: It is rare for the favourite of a race to pay a big dividend for win, let alone for place, but it is even rarer for the place dividend paid out to be bigger than the win dividend.

This double anomaly was the order in Race Five (Class 1 – 1000M) on Sunday.

Bukan Lawan Nya (Amin Abang) was tipped to take a bow before the judges in the top class event and should have sparked a long queue at the betting windows but was strangely passed up.

The punter who went for a place bet on the strongly-fancied five-year-old probably had his leg pulled for playing it a tat too safe but he had the last laugh – all the way to the pay-out window.

Bukan Lawan Nya not only lived up to his pre-race favourite tag by leading from pillar to post but also caused probably the strangest upset (by a favourite) in local racing by paying a big dividend of RM98 for place and a smaller dividend of RM21 for win.

“This has never happened before as far as I can remember,” a race goer said.

And to make sure there was no mistake, we checked with the Club and were given the confirmation. Well, didn’t someone once said “anything can happen in racing? Even something as strange as the double anomaly?

Second in the race was No Money No Talk (Roslan Bujang), paying RM32, with Ini Kali (Jasmi Kamar) third, 5 lengths further back. There was no betting on the latter.

Last start winner Bintang Kilong (Azizi Jasmi) who did not have a clear run round the home-turn, came with a good run on the outside in the final stretch but had too much ground to cover to make a difference.

Augustus (Maruf Wahab) who finished second on the first weekend and last season’s up and coming Geromino (Kamar Yaman) finished down the field.

Bukan Lawan Nya is owned by Beraya Stable and trained by Tamizi Putit.

Royal Command (Azizi Jasmi), who finished second on the first weekend, stepped up on that effort to score a well-deserved win in Race Four (Class II – 1000M).

The six-year-old, kept handy behind pace setter Young Generation (Mazlan Bujang) in the early running, came with a sustained run three-quarters way up the home stretch to win by 2 1/2 lengths from Dream Lobo (Roslan Bujang) with Young Generation a long third. The winner, owned by W Stable and trained by Edmund Sim, paid RM14.

Royal Command, once written off with hoof problem but was nursed back to health and given a second chance to continue his racing career after being transferred to Edmund Sim’s yard, has finished on board in his last five starts – two thirds, one second and two firsts – since his one-year layoff to let the injured hoof heal.

Bojeng (Kamar Yaman) made short work of the Class III field over 1000M in Race 3.

The four-year-old who finished second to Datang Lagi after racing erratically in the closing stages on the first weekend, performed true to form this time around, coasting to the finishing line by a distance from Sofia’s Pet (Rodi Elli) with Aries (Roslan Bujang) three-quarter length adrift.

Bojeng, owned by Kenquest Stable and trained by Lee Moi Fong, paid RM8.

The going was good on a day where the haze-laden surroundings reduced visibility to about 400M on the track.