3 minute read

Former six times Macau champion jockey Manoel Nunes got off to a flying start at his first meeting back at Taipa with a winning double to herald his return.

Nunes, arguably the most popular jockey in Macau's racing history, received a big welcome on Friday night from his fans as he bought the first of his winners Fantastic Destiny back to scale.

Nunes rode the perfect race on the Joe Lau trained gelding after copping a check in the early part of the race.

Rain in the early part of the week left the turf surface in a yielding to soft state. Even with the rail out eight metres, the inside was noticeably more cut up from recent racing as opposed to the rarely used outside section of the track. Ever the professional Nunes inspected the track on Thursday and concluded that the outside was the better place to be given Fantastic Destiny’s poor wet track record.

After putting the five year old gelding in a midfield position as the field raced into the back straight, Nunes slowly angled away from the rails to place the horse in the centre of the track on straightening.

Fantastic Destiny ran home strongly to beat Easy Thai (Luis Corrales) in the 1500 metre Class 6 contest, with Superlative Choice (Peter Ho) close up in third.

The new Australian import Eastern Paradise was the second of Nunes winners in the Class 2 Handicap over 1350 metres (sand) for trainer Victor Chan, in a run that impressed the jockey greatly.

Nunes showed perfect balance after the saddle shifted and the girth slipped back almost to the horse’s flanks.

That did not deter the champion rider and he continued to ride the horse right out to the line even changing the whip from left to right hand.

“I’m so glad to be back in Macau one hundred percent. Macau is home to me nowadays my family and my home are here,” he said.

“I have so many friends from the nine years I was here before, so I’m very happy how it has all worked out.”

Nunes was full of praise for Eastern Paradise after the win and predicts a nice future for the horse.

“He is still learning even though he raced and won overseas. I don’t think he likes too much kickback and I had to keep him going a bit through the run he wanted to switch off.

“Then of course the girth slipped right back to his flanks so it was a bit more difficult to ride him out.

“It was also good to win on Fantastic Destiny for my good friend Joe Lau as well.”

Nunes, 42, is here for a six months contract initially and then will decide his next step.

“I really enjoyed my five years in Singapore but it’s great to be back with family and old friends," Nunes said.

Nunes is the most successful jockey in Macau history with close to 850 Taipa winners alone.

His has ridden in m ore than 10,900 races for more than 1800 winners. He has ridden 57 Group or Graded race winners and a total of 70 Listed winners.

As well as being six times champion Macau jockey, Nunes won three straight Singapore titles and was runner up twice.

The promising Luen On Eagle made it two wins from his two starts with another easy victory in Friday night’s Class 4 over 1200 metres on the turf.

Ridden by Andrew Calder Luen On Eagle parked on the back of the speedy Chapman Way until the top of the straight, before rolling on by of him to race away for an impressive win.

A three year old son of Stryker Luen On Eagle created a huge impression on debut when he burst away from his wide barrier to lead and romp in over 1200 metres on a good track.

Friday night’s win on the soft ground shows his versatility, and judging by his sand trials he appears as though he will handle the all weather track just as well.

“That was another good win.” Calder said. “He is a very promising horse. Good action and size about him, and he is not completely tightened up yet.”

Luen On Eagle is prepared by Geoff Allendorf for his long term clients Thomas Lau Pong Sing and well known Australian racing identity Colin Keane.

The bay/brown gelding has been a bargain but for his owners costing only $36,000 at the Ready 2 race Sales in 2016, and is another success story from the MJC’s Online Sales Concept.