South African jockey Barend Vorster left it late to unseat Australian jockey Vlad Duric from his long-held second spot to finish runner-up to Joao Moreira in the Singapore jockey's premiership on Sunday.

Vorster became tied with Duric for second place, a big gap away to back-to-back champion Moreira on 153 wins, when the Patrick Shaw-trained Dittatore brought his score to 83 winners in Race 9, but still remained in third spot on a countback for seconds.

Duric, who ended his Singapore stint after the Longines Singapore Gold Cup weekend to serve a three-month suspension, wound up his tally at 83 wins, while Vorster could still upstage him if he won the last race on Valevole.

As it turned out, Vorster made no mistake on the $9 favourite - also trained by Shaw - punching him out to an easy 1 ¼ -length win over Doremi La in the $55,000 Class 4 Division 1 race over 1200m.

Vorster's double incidentally sealed Shaw’s first premiership title by bringing up his score to 78 winners, 12 clear of Leslie Khoo.

Barend Vorster brings Dittatore home a winner on Sunday.

“I’m very pleased to have finished second especially as I missed three meetings when I went to ride Rocket Man in Hong Kong,” said Vorster.

“The (Shaw) yard has been solid all year and I’d like to say a big thank you for their support.

“If we’ve had a good season it’s first and foremost a team effort. The horses have been prepared 100%.

“I’m also very grateful to Pat who has stuck with me even when things didn’t go our way.

“It’s a nice way to finish the year with two winners we were all expecting to win. It’s been a memorable year for everybody.”

A previous handy five-time winner, Dittatore, a Brazilian-bred six-year-old by Redattore had not recorded a win since September last year, and had shown ordinary form since then until his last start when second to Al’s Knight in a Polytrack race over 1200m on December 2.

Well rated behind the scorching pace set by joint leaders Ten Ten Lai (Alan Ng) and Happy Everybody (Muhd Firdaus), Dittatore ($23) was in a striking position upon straightening. Excavator (Soo Khoon Beng) was being hailed the winner at the 200m but Dittatore finished a shade better on his inside before drawing clear for a two-length victory.

Ten Ten Lai plugged on well for third another 1 ½ lengths away beating Collect The Cash (Oscar Chavez) in fourth place by a head. The winning time was 1min 11.76secs.

Favourite Arowana Dot Com (Benny Woodworth) never fired after being slow way and ran accordingly to beat one home.

Vorster, who has now partnered the Harlow Stud Stable-owned gelding to four of his six wins, said it was Dittatore’s superior body mass which tipped the scales in their favour in the end.

Valevole gives jockey Barend Vorster his 84th win and second place in the Singapore jockey's premiership.

“Size does matter! KB was trying to keep me in but once my horse changed his legs, he was able to get his shoulder into it,” said Vorster. “Once he put his head in front he just raced away.

“He ran very well at his last start and has improved nicely since that run. The fast pace played into his hands and it’s nice to see him win again.”

Dittatore has now brought his earnings close to the $240,000 mark for his connections.

Also a Brazilian-bred, Valevole carved out just as comprehensive a win, thanks largely to his good draw in barrier No 3.

With the leaders always in his sight, the Our Emblem three-year-old held off all comers to give his connections a dream finish to the 2011 season.

“He won like a good thing today,” said Vorster. “He had a lovely trip throughout and won very well.

“He’s definitely a horse we will have plenty of fun with next year.”