DEAN IS BACK ON THE LIST IN IPOH

Eight years after Australian trainer left Kranji, he resurrects career in Perak at 66

- Michael Lee

An old familiar name will pop back up on the Malaysian race cards very soon - Brian Dean, even if some may feel he had never left.

The Australian trainer has often been seen around Kranji since he ended a 12-year-long Singapore-based career in March 2016, but as a racegoer.

He also did take up a shortlived but successful stint in Seoul in South Korea in 2016-2017, during which he trained 28 winners from 150 starters.

But it will be the first time the name "B Dean" will reappear as a trainer on the Malayan Racing Association (MRA) circuit since 2016.

The 438th and last winner Dean saddled in this jurisdiction was Flying Shadow at Kranji on March 11, 2016.

The long time off was not by design, though. He never wanted to retire that early, even if he could have just switched to a rustic life as a full-time farmer on his Bendigo homestead.

Dean had all along been eyeing a comeback to his old hunting ground, but his application for boxes was knocked back.