Friday, 22 June 2012: South African jockey Greg Cheyne will be busy jetting between countries this weekend as he renews partnership with Macau galloper World Fortune in the HK$1 million Group 1 Macau Gold Cup (1800m) this Saturday.
Cheyne, who has been knocking in winners at Kranji at a consistent rate (currently sitting seventh on the Singapore jockeys' premiership on 17 wins from 203 rides), rode the Tony Fung-trained five-year-old by
Testa Rossa 
to a second place in the 2010 Macau Derby - and has obviously left a good impression with the connections.
Booked at both Kranji's Friday (four rides) and Sunday (eight rides) meetings, Cheyne was able to slot in the assignment in the former Portuguese enclave – unlike last April when the phone rang for a similar request.
“I wasn't able to ride him the last time he raced in a Group 3 race (Oceanus Cup). He ran third with Fred Durso aboard,” said Cheyne.
“At the time, the meeting (April 22) clashed with a meeting here at Kranji, but this time the Gold Cup fitted in perfectly.
“I first rode this horse two years ago in the Macau Derby and we finished second. He's a nice 1400m-1600m horse who runs on strongly towards the end.
“The owners have been good to me since that ride. I actually rode another horse for them the year before (
Palm Trilogy ) in the Derby again, and he ran fourth.”
Cheyne, 35, who captured his country's biggest race, the Vodacom July aboard
Big City Life in 2009 before riding with success for three seasons in Hong Kong and relocating to Kranji early this year, revealed it was the annual Interport event between Hong Kong and Macau that helped him forge the Macau contacts.
Besides riding World Fortune in the Macau Gold Cup (Race 4 at 3.45pm), which is also the third Leg of the Triple Crown, Cheyne has also picked up another ride for the same connections in an earlier race on World Monster.
Cheyne leaves Singapore on Saturday morning at 6am and will leave for Macau airport straight after the running of the Macau Gold Cup to catch a Singapore-bound flight in the evening.
"It's not really a rush between airports as I have plenty of time to get to the racecourse in Macau," said Cheyne.
"Besides, I'm used to travelling between racetracks back in South Africa. The good thing is I won't miss any meetings here at Kranji and I will have plenty of time to recuperate.
"I always sleep well on planes anyway. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones who can do that."
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