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Five-time Singapore champion jockey, Manoel Nunes, joined elite company last Saturday after he booted home his 700th winner in Singapore.
On top of that pick-up winning ride on the Daniel Meagher-trained Lim's Bighorn ($8) in the $50,000 Class 4 Division 1 race (1200m), Nunes also won earlier in the day on the Richard Lim-trained Mission Five ($8) in the $75,000 Restricted Maiden race (1200m), before completing his treble for the day with the Jason Ong-trained Diamond Ring ($13) in the $30,000 Class 5 Division 2 race (1000m) to make it 701 wins.
The hat-trick of wins not only lifted him back on top of the 2024 jockeys' premiership on 21 wins, one more than fellow Brazilian jockey Bruno Queiroz, he also joined previous Kranji jockeys Barend Vorster (789 wins), Saimee Jumaat (776) and compatriot Joao Moreira (737) as the only four jockeys to reach the 700th mark at Kranji, albeit Saimee, now Stephen Gray's assistant-trainer, would have tallied 971 wins in Singapore if one were to include his wins at Bukit Timah.
It was rare air for a jockey that hit the ground running in Singapore after he rode 112 winners at his debut season 11 years ago, when Nunes finished second on the jockeys' premiership to the Hong Kong-bound Moreira, who then won 179 races.
In 2014, Nunes chalked up 108 wins and took his first Singapore champion jockey title, followed by a career-high record of 123 wins that handed him his second one in 2015.
Nunes bagged 75 wins to make it a hat-trick of champion jockey trophies in 2016 before finishing second on 77 wins to four-time champion hoop, Vlad Duric, who took the honours with 83 wins in the following year.
Licensing and COVID-19 issues put a stop to Nunes' magical run with only one win in 2019, none in 2020 and eight in 2021. But true to his professionalism, the affable ace bounced back with 81 wins and his fourth jockey's crown in 2022, before claiming his fifth in 2023 with 95 wins. He now sits second on the all-time list behind Saimee, who was crowned Singapore champion jockey eight times.
Though the cessation of racing in Singapore on 5 October 2024 will cost him a chance at both another century of winners in a season and overtaking Vorster at the top of the all-time winning list, there are two riding landmarks that still drives Nunes to the very end.
"I think any jockey's goal would be to win the premiership," said the hardworking Nunes from a break from trackwork on Tuesday.
"Winning Group races is a great thrill but it's very important to win a premiership for your CV.
"I am blessed to have five premierships in Singapore and want to make it six in this final year.
"It won't be easy as Bruno is a very good lightweight jockey and has been getting support from some big trainers like Jason, so it will be a battle, but I like a challenge.
"It would also be nice to ride another 37 winners to pass Joao and only have Barend and Saimee ahead of me on the all-time list. A podium finish in that company would be something I want to achieve."
Looking back to his first win on 4 January 2013 on the David Kok-trained Super Lucky in a maiden race over 1700m, Nunes still marvelled at his success given he arrived knowing virtually no one in Singapore and only planned a short stay.
"I only knew one owner, Dato Yap, who raced horses in Macau," explained Nunes, who won the Macau jockeys' premiership six times.
"Dato introduced me to (ex-Kranji trainer) Michael Freedman, who had a big stable and supported me in the early days.
"To be honest, I didn't move my family to Singapore. They stayed in Macau as I planned to go back there after my first licence came to an end.
"But once I started to do well, I re-applied and stayed. I moved my family over, we all love Singapore and the rest is history. Thank God."
It was not all-smooth sailing though. After two years back in Brazil during COVID-19, Nunes almost found his way to Canada instead of Singapore.
"I almost didn't come back to Singapore after Covid-19," he continued.
"It was very hard to travel out of Brazil and I got a visa for Canada and would ride at Woodbine, but Singapore opened their borders first and the Singapore Turf Club (STC) approached me and I jumped at the chance.
"I had to build relationships with new trainers and owners when I got back but I had good support from (trainer) Tim (Fitzsimmons), who won the trainers' premiership that year (2022).
"So I'm so grateful to all the trainers and owners who supported me and also STC for giving me the chance."
When asked about the best jockeys, horses and wins he had seen and enjoyed over 10 or so years in Singapore, Nunes had a soft spot for his win in the 2015 Queen Elizabeth II Cup, then a Group 2 race over 2000m, on the late Laurie Laxon's Stepitup.
"There were too many good jockeys I have ridden against and too many good horses I have ridden," he said.
"Moreira was amazing though and Infantry and Spalato were two horses that stood out.
"But my favourite win was on Stepitup in the QEII (Cup) for Laurie. He was a small horse but had a big heart.
"I had nowhere to go at the 300m as (jockeys) Corey (Brown) on Quechua and Michael (Rodd) on Parranda kept me locked in.
"But we got the small gap late and when I switched the whip to my left, he (Stepitup) responded and just won. A big thrill."
It all starts again this Sunday and Nunes, who will have a strong book of rides, suggested the Stephen Burridge-trained Bakeel (x Sioux Nation) in the $75,000 Novice race (1400m) could be his win number 702.
