Te Akau Singapore's Winning Treble

It has been a fantastic day at the office for Te Akau - as Arpeggio won for Te Akau New Zealand trainer Jason Bridgman and her breeder Sir Peter Vela on his Karaka Million race evening in New Zealand - Te Akau Singapore trainer Mark Walker watched in New Zealand (here for the sales) as his on-fire team recorded a winning treble at Kranji.

The evening commenced in Singapore with a gutsy win by locally owned Mala Mala, followed by an inspired win by Jimmy Rea - this his second in a row.

Jimmy Rea was bred and is raced by Valachi Downs' Kevin Hickman who sent the horse to Te Akau Singapore late last year.  The Champion Breeder of the past seaosn, Kevin Hickman is known for breeding and racing the super mare Silent Achiever and we "are rapt to win back to back in those fampous colours" said Mark Walker tonight, "he will certainly go on with it."

So with two winners in the bag, Mark Walker was not about to stop there - next it was the turn of Ready Fortune - a horse purchased from the Karaka Sale by David Ellis and raced by Fortuna Syndicators.  Sent out the favourite in Singapore and ridden by leading jockey Manuel Nunes, it was a patient and tactical ride by Nunes to guide the horse home.

What a great way to kick off a huge week for Te Akau at the Karaka Sale that starts tomorrow - remember to be watching Trackside 1 for full coverage sponsored by Te Akau from 10.30am.

Enjoy the Singapore Turf Club's story after the win by Jimmy Rea ....

The top of the trainer's log is getting all bunched up with Mark Walker becoming the fourth to hit the eight-win mark after Laurie Laxon, Leslie Khoo and Brian Dean on Sunday.

Dean first joined the leading pair when Storm Troops scored at big odds on debut in Race 2, the $75,000 Restricted Maiden race over 1100m, before Walker's race-to-race double with Mala Mala and Jimmy Rea brought him on level terms on number of wins (of course after Ready Fortune's subsequent win, Mark moved to the outright lead).

The New Zealander, who is back home attending the Karaka Premier Yearling Sale, currently tops the table on a better countback for seconds, but given the dynamic nature of such leaderboards early in the season, the order could change overnight.

As usual, it is assistant-trainer Gus Clutterbuck who makes sure the Walker yard is in good running order in the boss's absence, and was certainly happy the yard was showing plenty of ticker early doors.

“The stable is doing well. Both winners were in form and we were expecting them to run well,” said Clutterbuck.

“Jimmy Rea was again very impressive though he is still learning what racing is all about. To break the 1 min 10 (1200m on Short Course) goes to show how good he is, but looking at the way he runs, he is looking for more ground.

“We will wait for Mark to get back in two weeks' time and sit down with the owner (Kevin Hickman of Silent Achiever fame) and discuss where he goes from here.”

Jimmy Rea, a three-year-old by Thewayyouare was scoring his second consecutive win after he shed his maiden status at only his second start on New Year's Day. While nothing has been set in concrete, the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge which begins at the end of March with the Sprint race over 1200m, could be an enticing option.

Champion jockey Manoel Nunes, who had been aboard at all three Kranji runs, rode a supremely confident race in steering Jimmy Rea home from a seemingly sticky pot for most of the $75,000 Novice race over 1200m.

Dropping to the rear from the start, Jimmy Rea was ahead of only one runner, Bourne Academy (Michael Rodd) while Silver Star (Joseph See) and Hermano Menor (A'Isisuhairi Kasim) rolled along at a decent clip upfront.

Swinging for home, the short-priced ($9) favourite was still hemmed in in traffic with nowhere to go while Hermano Menor had already sprung to the lead.

But Nunes' patience was rewarded manifold when daylight appeared at the 300m and the rest was just watching an Jimmy Rea unleash a blinding acceleration on the outside to claim Hermano Menor by three parts of a length. The winning time was 1min 9.71secs.

“I know this horse very well and that was the way I rode him at his last win and I stuck to the same pattern,” said Nunes, explaining his lack of urgency for most of the 1200m journey.

“At his first start, he ran against a strong field in a 1000m race and ran nowhere. Then he went over 1200m and I put him at the back and he flew home.   He did the same thing today. Yes, I was behind a wall of horses but I know he has a good turn of foot and once he got clear, he put the race away.”