Elite Star
Brazilian jockey Elione Chaves was a hugely relieved man after he snapped a long run of outs to take out the first two events on Friday night.
After flying out of the starting blocks with four winners in the space of seven days when he made his Kranji debut mid-January, Chaves surprisingly went through a lean spell at the next seven meetings.
The former Swedish-based was glad his race-to-race double aboard the Red Hare Bloodstock-owned Archer Company (NZ) (Darci Brahma) and Elite Star (NZ) (Pins) in the first two races had come at the right time to stop the rot.
"I was getting a lot of seconds and it was getting a bit frustrating, but I'm very happy I rode an early double tonight," said Chaves whose four-month contract ends at the end of March.
"I rode Archer Company at his last start and I was confident he could win tonight as the 1400m was too short for him last time.
"He was also caught wide but tonight he had a perfect trip behind the leader. I thought he would win easily but he had to fight hard to get the win in the end.
"For the second winner, he's a really heavy horse and I had to ride him hard throughout to get him going. The plan was to sit in second place but there was no pace early and I had no choice but to lead.
A three-year-old by Pins, Elite Star was recording his first win at his seventh start with one second and two thirds as his previous best efforts. He is raced by the Elite Star Stable, which Baertschiger said hailed from the East Malaysian state of Sabah.
After flying out of the starting blocks with four winners in the space of seven days when he made his Kranji debut mid-January, Chaves surprisingly went through a lean spell at the next seven meetings.
The former Swedish-based was glad his race-to-race double aboard the Red Hare Bloodstock-owned Archer Company (NZ) (Darci Brahma) and Elite Star (NZ) (Pins) in the first two races had come at the right time to stop the rot.
"I was getting a lot of seconds and it was getting a bit frustrating, but I'm very happy I rode an early double tonight," said Chaves whose four-month contract ends at the end of March.
"I rode Archer Company at his last start and I was confident he could win tonight as the 1400m was too short for him last time.
"He was also caught wide but tonight he had a perfect trip behind the leader. I thought he would win easily but he had to fight hard to get the win in the end.
"For the second winner, he's a really heavy horse and I had to ride him hard throughout to get him going. The plan was to sit in second place but there was no pace early and I had no choice but to lead.
A three-year-old by Pins, Elite Star was recording his first win at his seventh start with one second and two thirds as his previous best efforts. He is raced by the Elite Star Stable, which Baertschiger said hailed from the East Malaysian state of Sabah.