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New apprentice jockey Ibrahim Mamat lived up to the early promise shown from a handful of rides by opening his account on Paletas at only his second meeting on Saturday.

After the young Malaysian rode a couple of fourths - Karisto last week and Top Cat earlier on Saturday - the fifth ride in the last race, the $50,000 Gingerbread Man 2011 Stakes, a Class 4 Division 2 race (1200m) proved to be right on the money.

The 24-year-old might lack the experience, but he never lost his cool despite enduring a torrid trip on one of the leading fancies of the race at $20.

Trapped three wide for most of the way, the Iffraaj five-year-old improved noticeably from the 600m but still swung for home the widest.

Most thought he would come to the end of his run in the straight, and it would be just another invaluable takeaway for Ibrahim in his long journey towards honing his craft.

But Paletas did not lose any momentum at any stage, the four-kilo claim no doubt helping as Ibrahim punched him right out towards an easy two-and-a-half length win.

Zygarde  (A'Isisuhairi Kasim) took second place, just nosing out Legacy Fortune (Ronnie Stewart) into third. Shang Chi (Jake Bayliss) was a well beaten favourite in seventh. The winning time was 1min 11.34secs for the 1200m on the Polytrack.

With five wins from 17 starts, Paletas  has earned close to $187,000 in prizemoney for the Appointed Whale Stable.

"I'm very happy! I think I will be more confident after my first winner," said Ibrahim.

"It's a good run. It was the last race, so everybody was telling me to do my best.

"He's (Paletas) got a good and nice action. In the last 400m, I pushed and the horse gave me a good response.

"I want to thank Mr Clements and Mr White and all the hard-working staff at the stables."

Hailing from Kelantan, Ibrahim started out as a syce with trainer Michael Clements four years ago, before obtaining his track rider's licence a year later.

Along with Jamil Sarwi and Rozlan Nazam, both from Singapore, Ibrahim was one of three new apprentice jockeys to be licensed from July until the end of the 2022 season.

Three other apprentice jockeys were also licensed earlier at the start of the year. Besides Singaporean apprentice jockeys Faiz Khair and Fahmi Rosman who have yet to win, fellow Kelantan rider Akmazani Mazuki has already notched up six winners at Kranji thus far, albeit he had ridden in Malaysia before. 

Ibrahim is the second one among them to score.

"Now that he's won, we have to keep him grounded," said assistant-trainer Michael White.

"It's good to see him win because he had no luck earlier. He's only had a couple of rides so far and his second ride (Hamama) bled and on his third ride (Tom Cat), the saddle slipped.

"And that was exactly how we wanted him to ride Paletas. He's not a simple frontrunning horse, so Shafrizal (Saleh), who had a lot of success with the horse gave him a few pointers earlier.

"He listens to instructions and takes advice and criticism well. He's got a great attitude.

"Also, he puts in the hard yards and deserves his chance. He's a natural talent."

Kelantan has been a well-known source of many of our jockeys over the years. The likes of A'Isisuhairi, Shafiq Rizuan, Mohd Zaki and Hakim Kamaruddin all hail from the north-eastern Malaysian state, and Ibrahim may well become another good ambassador at Kranji.

While Ibrahim is the first to embrace a career as a jockey, horses have always played a big part in his family back home.

"I grew up riding ponies in Kelantan. My parents and two older brothers also like riding. We don't know racing, but riding is a 'hobby'," said Ibrahim who now lives in Johor Bahru.

"My eldest brother Shalih used to work as a syce for (ex-Kranji trainer) Cliff Brown. He is the one who told me they were looking for a syce at Mr Clements' stable.

"I didn't know Mr Clements, but that's how I joined his stable. My second brother, Hud, is also a track rider for Mr Clements.

"Mr Clements taught me a lot about racing, from the time I was a syce to the time I became a track rider and now a jockey. I also learned English from him and his staff.

"I only saw racing after I started working here in Singapore. That's when I decided I wanted to become a jockey.

"I want to learn from as many jockeys as possible here to improve my riding."