Hairi Marzuki repaid the faith showed in him by his employer Stephen Marsh when he guided the stable runner Thee Auld Floozie to victory at Rotorua.
Success in yesterday's Lowe Schollum Jones Insurance Brokers 1400 represented the promising apprentice's first New Zealand victory.
"He's a really good rider and he sits on the horses very well," Marsh said. Marzuki, who has ridden one winner in his native Singapore, was happy to sit three wide near the pace before he let Thee Auld Floozie improve and they had their noses in front 700m from home.
They were hotly challenged in the straight by Seventh Up and his veteran rider Grant Cooksley, but the younger pairing weren't to be denied and prevailed by a head.
