24 January 2025, Kuala Lumpur

Australian jockey, Blaike McDougall, will be making his Malaysian debut at the Selangor Turf Club this Sunday as part of the 10 race program. It is certainly an exciting addition to the jockey ranks for the next two weeks and especially the exclusivity of his rides as he is solely booked for the champion trainer of 2024, S Dunderdale and owners Buffalo stable as per the arrangements made by the respective parties.

Blaike was born in a suburb called Ryde but was raised in Portland, Australia. Despite being born into a racing family courtesy of his father Ron McDougall who was an ex-jockey, he was a bit of a late bloomer when considering the career of being a jockey. But at the age of 30 and 882 wins to his name at a strike rate of 14%, one would never imagine that he would have considered any other career.

His rides for Sunday include Lightning Gal in race 4 with bottom weight of 52,5kgs; Typhoon in race 5 who must be a huge chance and should fight out the finish with Contarelli; the ex-Singapore galloper Eruption in race 6 and to close off the day with Gun in the lucky last. He has been carded to ride Volcanic in the penultimate race of the afternoon, but he is currently an emergency acceptor and will need another horse to be scratched in the race to gain a run. 

The day is quite open for punters but does seem to narrow down towards the end of the day. Race 8 Billy Elliot steps out after an impressive 3 length victory in is last start against similar company. He has been freshened up for this run and should have a strong winning chance once again. In race 9, Summer Wind looks like a hard horse to oppose after an impressive local debut win just 3 weeks ago. He does step up in class but this is not the strongest of class 4 races and could be too strong for this field. To close off the meeting, Surfing Cloud with bottom weight in race 10 looks like the shining light to end off the day for punters. With formlines behind Red Dragonfly and a handy barrier of gate 2, he certainly has strong winning claims.

The first race is off at 12:45pm.