THREE Singapore Wins for Te Akau

What a Friday night at Kranji for Te Akau Singapore trainer Mark Walker - with not one, not two but THREE wins on the nine race programme - a third of the card.

It was another dominant performance that does look to have secured Mark his first Singapore Trainers' Premiership title, to join his five from New Zealand. With three race meetings only remaining, and 82 wins to his credit, Mark now has a lead of 12 wins over the second placed trainer -so whilst "its not done until it is done" he looks close to unbeatable.

The first two stable winners came courtesy of champion Singapore jockey Manny Nunes, with whom Mark has forged an impressive and successful relationship.  Idyllic Scenery stormed home in the S$60,000 Class 4 1600m and then Nunes steered My Lucky Strike to victory in the feature event on the programme, the S$125,000 Kranji Stakes A 1200m.

The third victory came courtesy of a horse New Zealand race goers will remember - Our Touche - who raced in New Zealand as Touche.  He got home by a narrow neck margin in the S$60,000 Class 4 1000m for 4kg claiming apprentice CK Ng.

My Lucky Strike is a very talented 4YO by Charge Forward who you will hear plenty more from in the new season - Friday was his eighth win from only 13 starts for stakes now exceeding S$420,000. Here is what the Singapore Turf Club had to say ...

Leading jockey Manoel Nunes's hat-trick of wins on Friday night certainly brought an awesome close to the season for him.

The jockey's premiership fight was almost a foregone conclusion for a while, but Nunes' second consecutive title is now all done and dusted with a haul now standing at 123 total wins with Australian jockey Corey Brown a whopping 40 wins behind in second.

Though suspended now and then, the skillful rider delivered in races, and among his seven rides on Friday night, three of them were delivered successfully for trainers Mark Walker and David Kok.

My Lucky Strike (Manoel Nunes, No 8) puts his head in front of Magneto (Barend Vorster, inside) to claim Race 7.

The Nunes-Walker combination first worked out when $19 shot Idyllic Scenery took a Class 4 race, beating the Laurie Laxon-trained Bob by one-and-a-quarter lengths, before doubling the dose with My Lucky Strike.

The son of Charge Forward showed again he was no pushover on the all-weather track when he gunned down class horse Magneto by a head in the $125,000 Kranji Stakes A race over 1200m.

The Polytrack specialist raced ten times on Polytrack at Kranji out of twelve runs, with all his seven wins coming from the alternative track, albeit not yet once over the six-furlong trip.   

Sent out as the race-favourite, My Lucky Strike jumped on terms, but Nunes decided to drop him to the back, while Goal Keeper (Salim Yusoff), who was resuming from a long spell, set a blazing pace in front.

The Patrick Shaw-trained Magneto, who had Barend Vorster in the reins for the first time, filling in for regular partner Nooresh Juglall who is away in Mauritius for the Attitude International Jockeys' Day, worked home solidly from the 400m when Goal Keeper began to show signs to distress.

But My Lucky Strike would not give up chasing, coming with a late charge at Magneto to win by a head on the line. Goal Keeper finished another two-and-a-quarter lengths behind in third. Valevole flashed home late to run fourth, another three-parts-of-a-length away.

The winning time on the 1200m Polytrack was 1min 11.01secs.

Nunes was full of praise for his mount, whom he felt has matured enough to handle the 1200m.

“He's very good on the Polytrack. I was concerned about the 1200 but he's run on this trip a couple of times, and now that he's older, he can take the trip better,” said Nunes.

“The pace suited him. It was very quick, so I settled him at the back.  He was wide with cover, and he ran on very well at the end.

“He tries 100%, such a lovely horse he is.”

While Nunes will be flying back to Brazil for holidays, and missing out on the last three meetings at Kranji, work is still on for the season's leading trainer Walker, who scored a treble (Idyllic Scenery, My Lucky Strike and Our Touche) on Friday night too.

“Well the 1200m was a bit of a question mark, but you know he's a class horse and a Poly specialist,” said the New Zealand trainer, who is on 82 wins.

“It was a great ride by Nunes. He had some cover, and got through the last bit. He's a small horse, but he's got the heart of a lion.”