PACIFIC VAMPIRE DRAWS FIRST BLOOD

Easy victory teaches Jerlyn Seow how to cope with short-priced favourites on debut

- Michael Lee

A $50,000 Class 4 Division 2 race (1,000m) is hardly the type of race to lose sleep over the night before Jerlyn Seow had been a little on edge for a couple of days, though.

The 29-year-old is no greenhorn.

She has clocked up in excess of 800 Kranji rides for 57 winners, not to mention a 2023 Singapore champion apprentice jockey title under her belt.

She even takes her saddle across the Causeway to Kuala Lumpur these days, often bringing back the spoils - four winners in six trips.

The last time the plucky lass was a bundle of nerves was probably at her first career ride, aboard Black Quail, on Jan 3, 2021.

A memorable second place has since paved the way to her success story, leaving less and less room for the jitters.

But, Seow had never felt such a strange combination of both excitement and trepidation ever since she sat on a horse called Pacific Vampire.

Not the gory type of fear that may be evoked by the second half of the name which the Pacific Stable probably retained to stay in character when they purchased Shadow Vampire in Australia.

A down-to-earth animal and sport lover with offbeat disciplines like air rifle and break dance in her repertoire - Seow has no time for fictitious bloodsuckers in cape.