SINGAPORE'S FIRST LADY TRAINER DRAGON DIES

Kranji in mourning after one of theirs loses long illness battle

- Michael Lee

Singapore's first woman trainer Leticia Dragon has died at the age of 50 on Nov 13 after a long illness.

Her death from liver failure comes around one month after the industry she loved and spent two decades in, also met its demise.

A former air stewardess, Dragon followed into the footsteps of her father Douglas in 2011, vowing to continue his legacy after he died at the age of 71 on Sept 25, 2014.

In a cruel twist, his daughter, then only 40, met the same fate 10 years later – and three years after she stopped training in 2021 bringing an end to a racing dynasty that was born in the 60s through jockey-brothers Douglas and Chris (who died in a car accident).

Even though the once-vibrant Singapore racing fraternity has fallen silent since Oct 5, they all rose as one on social media to share the sad news about their former colleague and friend's passing.

On the first morning of the wake at St Joseph Dying Aid Association (SJDAA) in Hougang on Nov 14, the room at the funeral parlour was still quiet, though.

Given her popularity, it was not long before they started showing up to pay their respects later in the evening.

One of the mourners was former jockey Clement Chan Hua Swee, who was apprenticed to trainer KL Daniels, whose B trainer was then Douglas.

"I'm very sad as Leticia was still quite young," said Chan, who now works at Equal Ark, an animal-assisted services company.

"She was a very brave girl to become Singapore's first woman trainer.