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Jockey Ryan Curatolo clearly has not forgotten his way to the winning line at Kranji after he steered Commander Jones to victory in the $30,000 Class 5 Division 1 race (1400m) at his first comeback ride on Saturday.

Based in Dubai previously, Curatolo last rode in Singapore six years ago, but he has stuck to the "tradition" of winning on the first meetings at all his three visits here.

The well-travelled French rider landed a double on Golden Spark and Eden Garden at his first one-day visit to Singapore on 1 September 2017, before returning for a longer riding term in 2018, when he scored aboard Yaya Papaya on the New Year Day's meeting.

To grace the Kranji winner's enclosure for the 36th time was what Curatolo had been looking forward to since he boarded the plane back on Tuesday night.

"It's nice to be back, and a winner at my first ride too." said the four-time Group 1-winning rider, who had his Singaporean wife, Dayle, by his side.

"Good to have my wife here too. She couldn't the last time as she had work (as an air stewardess), but she was with me when I last rode here (23 November 2018)."

After settling in mid-field one-off the fence, Curatolo allowed Commander Jones  to stride behind Simon (Marc Lerner) as Delilah (Ibrahim Mamat) led the field of 13.

Into the straight, Commander Jones ($41) peeled out and began to pick up momentum under Curatolo's urgings. The three-year-old of Charm Spirit sprinted past Simon at the 150m, but he had to fight off the fast-closing favourite, Smoke And Mirrors (Bruno Queiroz), who was held up in traffic and only let rip at the 250m.

The Tan Kah Soon-trained grey gelding eventually held on to a half-length win over Smoke And Mirrors while China Pearl (Jamil Sarwi) ran another two-and-a-half lengths away in third.

The winning time was 1 min 22.99secs for the 1400m on the Long Course.

Curatolo, who was at his first ride for Tan, had hopped on Commander Jones for two easy gallops before the race, but was grateful for the instructions from the Malaysian handler.

"I've got good information from the trainer and I simply followed his instructions," he said.

"He told me to relax him and sit a bit wider, away from the rails because he (Commander Jones) had the tendency to go (hang) in.

"I tracked Marc's horse (Simon), who I thought was the horse to beat, and I put myself behind him.

"When Simon accelerated, I followed, and he (Commander Jones) did everything right. He did not get tired but at the last 300m, I heard the other horse (Smoke And Mirrors) coming, so I had to push him till the end.

"I rode him in a canter yesterday and the day before and I liked him. I thought he's good on the 1400m but the mile would be nice for him too."

Tan, who opened his 2024 account with Pacific Sonic on 6 January, was happy with Commander Jones' improvement since late last year.

"This horse never used to settle," said Tan.

"After (ex-Kranji jockey) Ronnie (Stewart) rode him twice (4 November and 2 December), the horse settled so much better.

"When (jockey) Vitor Espindola rode him two starts back (on 17 December), he was stuck in traffic. I was happy with how (jockey) Matty (Matthew Kellady) rode him at his last start (30 December), but he (Commander Jones) had no way to go.

"Today, everything worked out good. He dropped his head and was settled.

"I was worried when he hit the front too soon because he likes to look around, but that's because of his immaturity. He can stay a mile no problem."

With that first win in eight starts, Commander Jones took his earnings to over $20,000 for the SMR Stable.