Banker’ssweetheart is queen

IPOH – It was a race to mark the staging of the Miss Malaysia Tourism pageant in Ipoh, with the Perak Turf Club being one of the sponsors of the event.

And fittingly, it was the six-year-old mare Banker’ssweetheart who emerged triumphant in the Miss Malaysia Tourism Trophy, a combined Classes 2 & 3 event over 1,200m, on Oct 18.

Upon jumping, Stop The Water (Syafifie Zailuddin) set the pace. The Johnny Lim Boon Thong-trained Banker’ssweetheart (Johari Kamaruddin) followed in second, with First Love (Harmeet Singh Gill), Banker’s Baby (Zulhilmi Mazuki) and Brandenburg (Saddam Saari) all racing handy.

But once Banker’ssweetheart ($17) sprinted past Stop The Water at the 200m, the Safeguard mare drew clear to win as she liked by six lengths.

Stormrunner (Ruzaini Supien) came from midfield to beat Banker’s Baby into third.

The winning time was 1min 09.65sec for the 1,200m on the short course.

Johari, who pulled off a back-to-back double for Lim after Welcome Banker’s ($7) opened his account next in the Benchmark 56 race (1,000m), said Banker’ssweetheart ran well throughout.

“She travelled on the bit all the way and just took off from the 200m,” said the Malaysian rider.

“I took her out to the middle of the track as the inside was a bit cut-up after the earlier races.”

Previously known as Miss Flirtacious, the Banker’s Stable-owned galloper recorded five wins from 19 starts in Australia.

After settling into Lim’s yard in late 2025, Banker’ssweetheart has raced 11 times in Malaysia.

While she has not won in nine starts at Sungai Besi, Banker’ssweetheart has made it two-from-two in Ipoh.

Also ridden by Johari then, the chestnut mare beat Stop The Water to land her first Malaysian victory in the Mitavite Asia Cup, a Cosmo C event (1,100m) back on June 13.

Lim bagged a treble when Banker’s Victory ($6) – with apprentice jockey Zulhilmi claiming 4kg – held off Group 1 Perak Derby (2,000m) runner-up Winning Stride to score an all-the-way victory in the Benchmark 74 contest (1,600m).

It was the So You Think five-year-old gelding’s first run in Ipoh after chalking up three wins at Sungai Besi.

Meanwhile, while Ruzaini managed only second on Stormrunner, he booted home three winners at the 12-race meeting, a day after his double in Kuala Lumpur, bringing up his tally of wins to five over the weekend.

The 2024 Malaysia champion jockey fired in two successive wins astride Ari ($39) and Fa Fa Star ($30) at Sungai Besi on Oct 17.

He then secured his hat-trick on Golden Show ($36), Starlight Glimmer ($17) and Gold Eighty-Three ($14) in the first three races in Ipoh.

Although there were frustrating times for Ruzaini despite notching up 20 wins since his comeback win on Ocean Jupiter on Feb 15 after serving a one-year suspension, he was pleased with his results this time.

“There were a couple of months when I drew a blank,” he said.

“I feel young again, I feel alive and very much how I was in 2024.” TURFONLINE