Alwin Tan, 46, spent five years (from 2002 to 2006) in Kentucky where the former Air Force regular started from scratch as a “hotwalker” before learning the fine art of horse-training with John Ward, Murray Johnson and Don Bernard. Following a job offer from Kranji trainer Hideyuki Takaoka, Tan returned to Singapore in 2006 with an assistant-trainer’s licence. He then joined trainer Sam Chua for another two years before finally branching out on his own in December 2009. The Singaporean enjoyed his best season at his sixth year in 2014 when he saddled 78 winners to finish second only two winners shy of Laurie Laxon on the Singapore trainer’s premiership. Tan captured his first “black type” win in March 2013 when Speedy Cat won the Group 3 Merlion Trophy on Polytrack. He actually went on to make it three-in-a-row in that race with El Padrino winning the next two renewals. War Affair cemented Tan's memorable 2014 year with a clean sweep of the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge and two Legs of the Singapore Triple Crown series, the Panasonic Kranji Mile and Raffles Cup, only missing out on the third Leg, the Longines Singapore Gold Cup, before beginning his 2015 campaign with a bang with a first-up win in the Group 1 Lion City Cup. Overseas, Tan enjoyed beginner’s luck with his historic win at his very first raid when El Padrino took out the inaugural Asia Challenge Cup in Seoul in August 2014. The same El Padrino will be back in the KrisFlyer in an attempt to better his unplaced run last year.