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To some people, nine years may seem like a long time for a jockey to reach 100 winners, but to Mark Ewe, he was just glad he could now proudly boast that feat on his resume since last Friday.
The Penang-born rider hit the coveted milestone in the last race, the $60,000 Class 4 scamper over 1000m with $44 shot Makawao leading all the way for trainer Theo Kieser and Ewe’s main supporter Frankie Lim of Fatboy Stable.
The three-time champion apprentice jockey (2008 to 2010) enjoyed average hauls of 15-20 winners during his salad days as a claimer, and though he expected wins to drop after he came out of his time, he never saw the two big roadblocks that were to stall his career.
A broken shoulder from a race fall from Casino Royale in August 2010 that sidelined him for eight months and a one-year disqualification for his handling of Abyss in a Class 5 race on April 20, 2012.
He also sustained a neck injury from a trackwork fall earlier this year, forcing him out of the saddle for five months just when his career was gaining new momentum with five wins alone in January, largely thanks to the new support pledged by Lim.
If not for such a stop-and-start career, the Perth-trained Ewe said he should have cracked the century much earlier, but would not complain, as long as it was now under the belt.
“I’m lucky to still be here riding and reaching my No 100,” he said. “I was injured and came back and then I was banned for a year. I’m so grateful I was given a second chance, but I again had bad luck with another fall this year.
“But I love this job and to ride the 100th winner for Mr Lim is a bonus. He’s been very good to me and his support has helped me come out from a dark time in my life.”
Awarded Western Australia’s most promising apprentice in 2006, Ewe said he did of course remember his first Kranji winner, grey galloper Cosmic Prince for his then master Charles Leck on November 22, 2006, but his 100th was a lot more vividly etched in his mind.
“He’s (Makawao) a free-running sort of galloper and I restrained him too much at his previous run. It’s okay over 1200m, but that was a 1000m race, and he got run down,” said Ewe of the Elusive Quality six-year-old.
“He was back over 1000m last Friday and this time I just let him go to the front and hoped nothing would come at us in the straight. He just kept going all the way.”