3 minute read

Plucky jockey Manoel Nunes could not have bounced back from a race fall in Friday’s last race in more emphatic fashion when he rode the winners from the first four events of Sunday’s meeting.

And for good measure he rounded out the day by capturing the final event on the 10-race programme to bring up a five-timer, his first at Kranji.

Nunes was one of two jockeys who hit the deck in that Friday’s Class 4 Polytrack race that saw a dramatic race-spill unfold in full view of the Kranji Grandstand 25m from the winning post. While Nunes came out the worse for wear after being dislodged from his mount Double S, his fellow Brazilian Ivaldo Santana was less lucky as he fractured three ribs when his horse Miracle Bay broke down and caused the chain reaction.

Nunes walked from the incident looking unhurt, but felt the after-effects the next day, and for a while, was undecided if he would be able to honour his book of nine rides on Sunday. But his doctors gave him the all-clear, a decision which proved spot-on with Nunes racking up four wins on the bounce followed by the fifth in the last race.

After landing the first Leg of the quintet aboard $17 favourite American Vision in a grinding blanket finish in the $35,000 Class 5 Division 1 race (1200m), Nunes again had to dig deep into his bag of tricks to steer Inspire ($31) to a half-length victory from favourite Verglatica (Matthew Kellady) in the $65,000 Initiation race over 1700m.

He then had an easier time in the $55,000 Class 4 Division 2 race (1200m) aboard his third-Leg winner $12 favourite Bourbon Goldman who split the pack apart like a hot knife through butter to score by two lengths from the fast-finishing Green Tracer (Hasri Rahiman).

Far from being done for the day, the hungry jockey won his fourth race aboard another favourite Dr Octopus ($13, see other report) in the $65,000 Initiation race over 1000m before winding up the day with victory aboard the Steven Burridge-trained Joyous Express (also favourite - $19) in the $55,000 Class 4 Stakes Division 1 race (1200m).

Savouring his highly-productive day in the office, Nunes was, however, quick to acknowledge the fine line between tragedy and success in that peculiar job full of occupational hazards that a jockey plies.

“I’m very lucky I did not get hurt last Friday. It was a very bad fall and unfortunately Santana broke three ribs,” said Nunes.

“Things happened so quickly. I just saw Santana’s horse fall over and mine could not avoid him and fell as well.

“I hit the ground pretty hard but got up okay. But the next day, I felt sore and I was not sure if I could ride on Sunday.

“Luckily, I am okay today and well, nothing like five winners to get me back in business! I've had a few in Macau, but it's my first here at Kranji!”

Of Nunes’ five winners, Inspire, a four-year-old son of Keeper prepared by trainer Michael Clements, was the only one Nunes has been associated with from Day 1.

“I knew him quite well already as I’ve ridden him at all his previous four starts. I knew all along he was the kind of horse who needs further,” he said.

“The best way to ride him is to keep chasing him to put himself in the race. Today he broke just fair, but I was still happy where he was as it was a small field.

“I was happy to be following the favourite, No 7 (Verglatica), and around the 700m, I had to get out as the horse in front of me was stopping.

“I still had plenty of horse left, but when he hit the front, he was inclined to stop. I guess he’s still very green, but he will certainly improve and will definitely go up to 1800m.”

With the five-timer, the former six-time Macau champion jockey, who has certainly made a significant impact at Kranji since relocating from the former Portuguese enclave in January, was able to whittle down the massive margin from runaway leader Joao Moreira – not riding at the weekend as he rode at the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup at Ascot, England on Saturday to bring home a winner – to 52 winners (74 winners versus 126 winners).

Clements was also delighted Inspire, a horse who races in his colours under the Inspire Stable, has confirmed his recent signs of improvement to hit the target at his fifth outing.

“He’s always wanted more ground and the first test over Polytrack worked out good as well,” said Clements.

“He’s a late maturing type who will get better over a bit of ground. I must say he’s been picking up with each race, but he’s been running into pretty strong opposition at his last couple of races.

“I saw he was a little slow to jump today and in the first 400m he got outpaced as they went pretty fast in front. But once he was able to get into a good rhythm after the first bend, he travelled good and finished off nicely.”