South African trainer Patrick Shaw is taking a sabbatical leave from Kranji effective from 15 December 2016 until 30 June 2017 due to health reasons.

After a successful career in South Africa where the 1995 Durban July win with Teal ranks as his highest achievement, Shaw relocated to Singapore in 2001, where he went on to quickly establish himself as one of the leading trainers, securing the champion trainer title in 2011.

Shaw has won practically all the feature races in Singapore, with the Group 1 highlights being two KrisFlyer International Sprints with his international superstar Rocket Man (2011) and Ato (2012), three Singapore Gold Cups with Mr Line (2006), Quechua (2014) and Cooptado (2015), five Lion City Cups, including a record four time with Rocket Man (2009-2012) and an earlier one with Que Expresion in 2003 and two Singapore Derbies with Our Falstaff (2006) and Quechua (2015).

But Shaw probably earned his most supreme accolade when he saddled Rocket Man to a first International Group 1 win for a Singapore-based horse in the Dubai Golden Shaheen at Meydan in 2011.

All up, Shaw, 60, has won 825 races at Kranji, including 64 feature races, of which 15 were recorded at Group 1 level. He also won two international Group races with Rocket Man, one in Hong Kong when he dead-heated with One World in the Group 2 Cathay Pacific Jockey Club Sprint in 2010, and of course the Dubai Golden Shaheen.