By Larry Foley, Singapore Turf Club
Cyclone came to Singapore as a silly chance for a run in the Group 1 Singapore Gold Cup (2000m) on November 19, but the Tim Fitzsimmons-trained gelding has all but booked his ticket for the big dance by winning the $70,000 Class 3 race over 1400m on Saturday.
The five-year-old son of Pierro was sent out as the $15 favourite in the 12-horse Class 3 field. After jumping well from gate five, jockey Manoel Nunes had the Buffalo Stable-owned gelding perfectly placed one-back on the rails behind the obvious leader in Red Ocean (Wong Chin Chuen).
So far so good for the favourite’s backers but when Red Ocean capitulated quickly as the pressure went on at the 400m, Cyclone found himself leading earlier than expected.
A sitting duck for some well-credentialled swoopers but although only at his second run in Singapore, Cyclone was always going to be hard to get past over 1400m. With him kicking clear at the 300m for Nunes, it was a case of ‘catch me if you can’.
Quarter Back (Vlad Duric) and Stenmark (Jamil Sarwi) were close enough to keep it interesting but although the pair loomed large and Boomba (Jake Bayliss) was strong late, Cyclone won comfortably, and with plenty more to offer heading towards a start in the Singapore Gold Cup.
He scored a half-a-length win from Quarter Back while Stenmark and Boomba both finished another three-quarters-of-a-length behind, dead heating in third. The winning time was 1min 22.84 secs over 1400m on the Long Course.
The time and margin was irrelevant to his winning trainer given the significance of the win with the Gold Cup on his radar.
“This horse; he does my head in a bit,” said Fitzsimmons, who had earlier saddled another Buffalo Stable-owned Thunder ($25) to back-to-back wins in the $50,000 Class 4 race over 1700m on the Polytrack.
“He got here two months later than we hoped. I had to really try and chase fitness but not hurt the horse at the same time.
“He puts me under a lot of pressure because he’s a really quality horse. Today, he was probably 75 to 85% fit and he’s got so much improvement.
“He had a beautiful run. It’s just great for the owners. This gives us a chance to get him into the Gold Cup now so hopefully, I can get him fit enough for that race in a few weeks’ time.
“The longer the better. He’s an 1800m to 2000m horse.”
His Brazilian rider agreed.
“He’s a lovely horse and I believe he won on ability today as he’s not 100% fit,” said Nunes.
“He travelled so well early – just behind the leader – and when the gap opened on the rails, I had to take it. I was in front earlier than expected but he showed what a good horse he is.
“His fitness showed late – he got a bit tired – but that was a nice win.
“It’s nice for (owner) Peter (Lee) to have a good horse and it’s a pleasure to ride for both Peter and Tim. They are all good people.”
Treble for Nunes
If Cyclone was not enough to get Nunes excited about good horses going forward, Street Of Dreams ($9) certainly ticked that box in the Lucky Last.
The Joe Singh-owned four-year-old came off a win in the Maiden race over 1200m on the Polytrack where he set a new Class record, but the ease of his win in the $50,000 Class 4 race over 1400m on the turf had tongues wagging.
The two-length win was as easy as they come and given the runner-up – Shanghai Star (Shafrizal Saleh) – had 1400m form around another Singapore Gold Cup nominee Mr Black Back, his trainer Steven Burridge was over the moon.
“I expected him to win but not in that easy manner,” said the laconic Australian handler.
“As I have said all along; he’s a very good horse. If the breathing stays good, he has a big future.”
Nunes – who also won on Super Salute ($9) in the $50,000 Class 4 race over 1200m to make it a hat-trick of wins and took riding honours on the day – was very impressed.
“The way he won today; unbelievable,” said the leading jockey.
“I watched his races on the turf and thought ‘okay’ and while his win on the poly(track) was impressive and in a smart time, I was still surprised by his run today.
“He had them beat early. Wow!
“He’s a lovely horse. Good luck to Joe and Steve”.
