Nunes’ unlikely Golden Alliance
The ink on Manoel Nunes’ name as Makin’s winning jockey at the Sept 21 meeting had barely dried that he has already jumped off.
The multiple Singapore champion jockey is now booked to ride Dream Alliance in the $1.38 million Group 1 Grand Singapore Gold Cup (2,000m) on Oct 5.
Going on riding partnerships alone, not many would have seen that sudden switch coming.
Nunes said that on loyalty, he would have ridden Makin – he rode him to four of his five wins, missed only three of his 19 starts – but weights forced his hand.
“With Lim’s Kosciuszko’s topweight at only 58kg, Makin needs every kilo of the weight gap to have a chance,” said Nunes who has yet to win a Singapore Gold Cup.
“If I ride him 2kg over, it wouldn’t be fair on him. (Trainer) Steve (Burridge) and (owner) Mansoor (Gandhi) then booked the new Australian jockey Will Price who can ride at 50kg.”
The fallback is not such an odd “Alliance”. The Brazilian last sat on Dream Alliance on May 20, 2023, but rode him to three wins in a row back at the end of 2022.
With Tim Fitzsimmons’ go-to rider Ryan Curatolo unable to ride light, Nunes, who helped the Australian and himself to their 2022 titles, was a natural choice.
“Tim approached me for the ride,” said Nunes. “The horse ran second in last year’s Gold Cup, but hasn’t won for a while.
“Tim prepares his horses very well for the big races, though.
“Lim’s Kosciuszko and Lim’s Saltoro will be hard to beat, but the track and barriers can help.”
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