South African jockey Anton Marcus (pictured) has picked up the ride on Salaam Dubai in the $1 million KrisFlyer International Sprint after the originally booked Richard Mullen had to drop out.



Mullen is committed to ride in the Group 1 Juddmonte Lockinge Stakes at Newbury, UK on Saturday and has accepted more rides at Newmarket thereafter. The English rider would therefore be unable to arrive on time for the ride on the Aditiyan Selvaratnam-trained United Arab Emirates sprinter in Singapore.



Marcus will be able to ride in the KrisFlyer which starts at 8.40pm as his flight back to South Africa takes off at 2.20am on Monday morning.



The younger brother of former top rider and now trainer Basil Marcus is already booked to ride Jay Peg in the $3 million Singapore Airlines International Cup at 7.50pm for fellow countryman Herman Brown. The pair combined for a famous victory in the US$5 million Dubai Duty Free in March.



Marcus touches down at Changi Airport on Wednesday morning and is expected to ride both Jay Peg and Salaam Dubai in trackwork by the end of this week.



Aboard the same flight will be Weichong Marwing, who rides Mourilyan for Brown in the SIA Cup and Star Crowned, co-incidentally another Dubai-based horse who is also a pick-up ride, in the KrisFlyer.