志叔 ----- 對大師有情有義!!
Spirited attitude still flows through champion
Felix Coetzee had a sad, sinking feeling when the once-unbeatableSilent Witness trailed in ninth of 10 runners behind Scintillation inthe Centenary Sprint Cup at his final racecourse appearance.
But shortly after passing thewinning post, the old champ showed Coetzee (pictured) that thosecompetitive juices still flowed strongly.
Coetzee, who is the onlyjockey to have ever ridden Silent Witness in his 29 starts, was gettingready to rein the big bay in and return to trainer Tony Cruz and ownersArchie and Betty da Silva for a post mortem.
But while there were still horses in front of him on the track, Silent Witness was having none if it.
"He leaned into the bridleand as the other horses were pulling up, he started picking them offone by one," Coetzee explained.
"As we got around to theentrance to the back straight, there was only one horse - Scintillation- in front of us. And still he wouldn't drop the bit.
"Eric [Saint-Martin] wastaking his time easing Scintillation down and as Silent Witness went upto him and headed him down the back straight, it was only then that hepricked his ears and started to relax.
"To me, it was just amazing. Obviously, the horse was not comfortable in the race and hewas not the horse we once knew, but he has never lost his competitiveinstincts. He still wanted to finish in front, regardless of how longit took."
Coetzee's love of SilentWitness was demonstrated on January 1 when Cruz offered him the ride onstablemate Floral Pegasus in the Chinese Club Challenge Cup.
Cruz said Coetzee's response was: "Tony, if I can't ride Silent Witness, I would rather not have a ride in the race."
His loyalty to the fallen idol cost Coetzee a Group Three win.
Gerald Mosse filled in, andretained the ride when Floral Pegasus won the Group One Mercedes-BenzClassic Mile on January 28 at his subsequent start.
係華商會杯前，告仔叫志叔騎隻俊歡騰，明眼人都知道邊隻大機會。
但志叔同告仔講除了大師之外，咩馬都唔會騎!!
呢d騎師邊到搵!!!!
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