3 minute read

Jockey Bernardo Pinheiro’s golden run of form in the saddle continued on Sunday after Sousui took out the $50,000 Class 4 race (1400m), making it three doubles in five Singapore meetings for the Brazilian hoop.

Earlier in the day, Pinheiro – who celebrated his 27th birthday on Saturday - won on the well-backed Baby Twins ($15) in the $50,000 Class 4 race over 1000m after he led from pillar to post for trainer Jerome Tan.

Previously, Pinheiro – who returned to riding in Singapore at the meeting on April 16 where he did not ride a winner – rode a double on April 23 (Cosmic Dancer and Fame Star) and May 6 (the same Cosmic Dancer and Always Together). He also flew over to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a hit-and-run mission at the Selangor Turf Club on May 7, when he returned with one winner, Pasir Pinji.

Incidentally, the well-travelled hoop also pulled off a brace at his last meeting in Singapore on October 2 last year that included a maiden win on Street Of Dreams, who has improved by leaps and bounds and is now targeted at the Group 1 Kranji Mile (1600m) next Saturday.

It was almost a textbook ride on Sousui , bar the waywardness late from the Hideyuki Takaoka-trained gelding.

After jumping well on the $27 third-favourite from barrier one, Pinheiro was happy to let the expected leader - Summer Wind (Matthew Kellady) - cross and lead from barrier eight while ten other runners spread out behind them on settling.

Pinheiro was careful not to let Kellady pinch a break on the turn and was ready to pounce upon straightening, but when the young hoop got busy on Sousui at the 400m, Summer Wind had plenty of fight left in him.

The pair fought before Sousui got the better of the battle at the 250m and the race was his to win. But then, Sousui got tired and wayward over the concluding stages, so Pinheiro still had work to do to get the flashy four-year-old over the line as Citizen (A'Isisuhairi Kasim), Ace Sovereign (Daniel Moor) and Axel (Marc Lerner) made their big runs late.

Yet, the Australian-bred son of Mikki Isle held on in the end by half-a-length over Citizen. Ace Sovereign ran a short head-third while Axel finished in fourth by the same margin.

The winning time was 1 min 22.32secs for the 1400m on the Long Course and Sousui's second win from nine starts took his earnings to a tick over $70,000 for the Big Valley Stable.

Pinheiro was happy to ride his first winner for Takaoka who had supported him last year, albeit with no winners.

"Mr Takaoka gave me rides last year and I was very grateful," he said.

"While I placed on some, we never won a race together, so it was really nice to ride a winner for him.

"He gave me good advice on this horse too. He told me what I had to do to win.

"I managed to relax the horse early and would have been happy to lead from the inside barrier with the lightweight, but I was also happy to watch what was happening outside me and when he (Summer Wind) finally crossed me – which I expected – I wasn't concerned.

"We were travelling so well in second. I knew he (Sousui) would be ready to challenge him early in the straight and would be strong enough to win. But Mr Takaoka told me that he tends to get lost when he hits the front and would start to hang.

"When I whipped him, he went the other way – very wayward – but I kept him going forward and he held on."

Of Baby Twins, Pinheiro was happy he was offered the ride on a horse he had a lot of time for.

"I was looking at another ride in that race, so when Jerome called me on Monday, I was quick to say 'yes'," he explained.

"I had followed this horse in the (Group 3) (Singapore) Three-Year-Old Sprint (finished sixth in the 1200m feature race) and thought that he would be more than up to Class 4.

"The plan today was to go forward and Baby Twins (x Mondialiste) was fit, fresh and won well. He's a good type to follow".

Takaoka was quick to praise Pinheiro on the tricky ride aboard Sousui.

"I told Bernardo that the horse was green and would stargaze when he hit the front," said the Japanese handler, who also confirmed that he will retire in the months to come.

"He rode him very well late by not whipping him much but just pushing him to the line. A very good ride."