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Jockey Darren Danis welcomed his first Singapore win aboard the Richard Lim-trained Run Buddy Run in the $30,000 Class 5 Division 2 race (1400m) on Saturday.

Kranji fans might not be familiar with Danis, who worked as a track rider for ex-Kranji trainer Brian Dean in 2014 and eventually made his debut in New Zealand a year later, but after news came out that the curtain will come down on Singapore racing after its last meeting on 5 October, the Singaporean son was keen to return home for a short stint.

With over 100 wins under his belt, including a Group 3 race in New Zealand last October, Danis has benefited from his racing experience overseas in the past nine years. Since his first ride at Kranji on 12 May, he placed six times from 20 rides before Run Buddy Run's boilover win.

While the Snitzel four-year-old took many by surprise, including Lim, to score at $116, Danis was quietly confident of his mount.

"I was quite confident last week after I galloped him and thought he might be a chance," said the son of former Malaysia trainer Luke Danis.

"I had been working on him for the past three weeks and from his races, he seemed to come home from the back, but the (racing) pattern today were obviously not like that (leader bias' track).

"I thought he'd finally drawn a good gate (two) today and thought I'd ride him more positive but without using him up too much early. I rode him for luck because he's not going to come out wide and win. We went through them, he picked up and we won."

Unlike at most of his previous runs where Run Buddy Run  was dropped back to the rear, Danis slotted him in mid-field position following a good jump from the inside barrier and bided his time while favourite Big Day (Bernardo Pinheiro) and See Yah (Koh Teck Huat) led the field of 11 in a slow-run race.

At the 300m, Run Buddy Run darted through a gap between See Yah and Wan Legacy (Faiz Khair) before slowing gaining momentum in the straight. Big Day could not pull away and once Run Buddy Run hit the front, Danis was not going to let his first win slip by, even if Golden Eighteen (Ryan Curatolo) flew home on the outside in the last 100m.

Run Buddy Run held him off by three parts of a length while Big Day  finished another half-a-length away in third. The winning time was 1 min 24.27secs for the 1400m on the Short Course on the yielding track.

Danis was rapt with the win, but he initially thought Prodigal, the first of his four rides on Saturday, could have brought his first win in the opener, the $30,000 Class 5 Division 1 race (1400m).

The Tan Kah Soon-trained gelding ran second for Danis at his first meeting in Singapore, but just missed out the podium finish this time.

"It's good to get a win, finally. I thought Prodigal could be my first winner, but it was not to be. He (Run Buddy Run) was my best chance after him," said Danis, who had his elder brother Danni by his side at the winner's circle.

"One box ticked off (first Singapore win) and hopefully, more (wins) to come.

"Sadly, dad and mum couldn't be here. Dad's sick and mum is taking care of my brother's (Danni) kid, but I think they must be cheering for me from home."

Lim was happy for Danis, albeit he was not expecting a win from Run Buddy Run.

"It was a nice surprise. He's a lazy horse and not a good trackworker," said the former jockey, who bagged a treble on Saturday after The Shadow ($34) and Combustion ($42) also saluted in the $30,00 Class 5 Division 2 race (1200m) and the $50,000 Class 4 race (2000m) respectively.

"He showed nothing in 1200m, so we stepped him up to 1400m (in a Class 5 Division 2 race on 27 April) but he also showed nothing (unplaced).

"But I'm happy for Darren."

After breaking the duck at his 17th start in Singapore, Run Buddy Run has earned over $18,000 in prizemoney for the Lucky Four Stable.