Flying Singapore Season Start

In this past week, Te Akau New Zealand trainer Jason Bridgman and our team celebrated four wins in 24 hours - with a winning treble on 29 January at Rotorua - Arpeggio, La Adelita and Star of Greenbeel, followed then at Taupo by debutante O'Reilly filly Is this Love.

Meantime in Singapore, the Turf Club closes for a couple of weeks over the festive season - and at the end of its calendar-year racing season - for track maintenance - so no racing.  However Te Akau Singapore trainer Mark Walker and our team have been carefully preparing our team of horses for the new season which kicked off on Thursday 1 January.

What a flier Mark had too yesterday for the first day of the season - winning not one, not two, but three races - a superb start to 2015.  You can expect to see many more winners flying out of our Singapore stable in the coming weeks and months.

That means that both of our Te Akau stables have trained winning trebles within days of each other!

The three victors at Kranji were $60,000 Class 4 winners Jefferson Bay and Bazinga together with Jimmy Rea who was entrusted to Te Akau by leading breeder Kevin Hickman of Silent Achiever fame.  The latter claimed a Maiden $75,000 event in the hands of gun rider Manny Nunes.

Congratulations to Mark and the whole team - what a fabulous start!

The Singapore Turf Club reported last night:

Newly-crowned Singapore champion jockey Manoel Nunes made it clear he was not the sort to sleep on his laurels as he went about booting home a winner as early as at the second race of the new season on Thursday.

Home in the premiership a long way out despite a long time on the sidelines through suspensions and injury last year, the Brazilian jockey, already a six-time Macau champion, showed why that first Singapore title at only his second season of riding was not usurped through his spotless handling of Jimmy Rea in the $75,000 Good Health 2015 Stakes, a Restricted Maiden race over 1200m.

Dropping the New Zealand-bred by Thewayyouare with plenty of cover behind a pack of horses, Nunes had his mount nicely switched off till the top of the straight where all he had to do was to point him to a gap on the outside.

Once Jimmy Rea found daylight, the race was soon put to bed. Race-leader and $16 favourite Great Sun (Craig Newitt) tried to muster a response, but he could only watch Jimmy Rea, who runs in the same yellow and blue cap colours as smart New Zealand galloper and recent Spring Carnival campaigner Silent Achiever, sail away to a most emphatic two-length win.

Second favourite Poseidon (Corey Brown) did his best work late to settle for third place another 2 ½ lengths away. Jimmy Rea, who was also well supported at $28, ran the 1200m on Polytrack in 1min 11.72secs.

The pilot at Jimmy Rea's debut run (fifth to My Lucky Strike) in a 1000m Novice race on December 7, Nunes said the fact he could take a sit behind runners and the longer trip accounted for the dramatic improvement.

“I was not all that disappointed with his first run. It was too short and he also took a check at the 800m,” said Nunes.

“He was able to relax a lot better this time. Sitting behind a wall of horses helped him settle.   He's still a bit green, but he showed me a very good turn of foot in the straight. He just flew home.”

Walker was obviously pleased Jimmy Rea has not taken too long to show his wares, more so when he could pave the way to an old firm that brought him plenty of success back in New Zealand, well-known Valachi Downs breeder Kevin Hickman, the owner of multiple-Group 1 winner Silent Achiever (The BMW, Ranvet Stakes, New Zealand Derby).

“It's exciting to have someone like Kevin in Singapore. He's a big breeder in New Zealand and had many horses with me when I was still a trainer there,” said the five-time New Zealand champion trainer.

“That's the first horse he is racing here and hopefully there'll be more on the way. People from back home are starting to realise how good the prizemoney in Singapore is and how it is a much more attractive option.

“This horse won three trials back home, but just needed a first run experience here and he's improved a lot since. He's still learning what racing is all about and he'll definitely get better over more ground.

“I think he's a horse who's definitely got a good potential and looks to have a bright future here.”