Super Salute overcame the widest gate 11 and beat a rejuvenated Lucky Jinsha by a head to win the SG$110,000 Gr3 New Year Cup on Saturday.
While the New Year Cup was the five-year-old son of I Am Invincible’s third win at Group level, the spirited victory gave trainer Richard Lim his first Group win at only his third year of training.
Super Salute (Manoel Nunes) wears down Lucky Jinsha (Zyrul Nor Azman) to win the Gr3 New Year Cup (Pic – STC)
Sent out the equal favourite with Pacific Emperor (Vlad Duric), jockey Manoel Nunes took advantage of a clean jump by Super Salute to run on the pace, while outsider Lucky Jinsha (Zyrul Nor Azman) led early from barrier three.
King Arthur (Yusoff Fadzli) also made good use of gate one to settle one-back on the rails, with Sacred Gift (Iskandar Rosman) handy in fourth.
Pacific Emperor found cover in fifth, but another fancied runner, Akhtar (Bruno Queiroz) missed the start badly and had to settle for a conspicuous last in the running.
As the field turned for home, both Super Salute and Pacific Emperor looked like they had a great chance to vie for the top spot, but the Tim Fitzsimmons-trained Lucky Jinsha was giving a sight up front with just 50kgs on his back and still led by a length with 100m to go.
Under hard riding by Nunes, Super Salute was closing slowly, but those with a ticket on Lucky Jinsha – who could not manage a place from 10 starts last year – were cheering for an upset win with the winning post looming fast.
Over the concluding stages, Nunes kept the momentum going with Super Salute and the pair narrowly outran a brave Lucky Jinsha to score while Pacific Emperor finished another length away in third.
The winning time was 1 min 11.20secs for the 1200m on the Polytrack and Super Salute’s ninth win from 16 starts in Singapore took his prizemoney to over SG$550,000 for the Alan N John Stable.
Lim, who saddled three winners on the day with The Shadow and Lord’s Command winning earlier in the SG$30,000 Nowyousee 2020 Stakes, a Class 5 Division 2 race over 1100m and the SG$70,000 Lizarre 2013 Stakes, a Class 3 race respectively, was happy to tick another box in his fledgling training career.
“I was looking forward to my first Group win as a trainer,” said Lim, who famously won the 2006 Gr2 Queen Elizabeth II Cup on King And King as a jockey.
“I wasn’t confident after we drew barrier 11 on Wednesday, but Super Salute jumped well – that has been a problem for him – and we got a good position.
“Nunes gave him a breather mid-race, which was what we wanted, but I thought we were going to run a place again with 200m to go.
“I started screaming in the last 100m for him to win when he was making good ground, and he did. He’s such a trier. It’s a great win and I’m happy to have a Group win as a trainer.
“The Gr3 Fortune Bowl in February will be his next race. Then, we will look at the Gr3 Committee’s Prize in March and the Gr2 EW Barker Trophy in April.”
Nunes, who brought up a quartet of wins on the day when Flying Nemo won the last race in the SG$50,000 Class 4 race after Golden Brown in the SG$50,000 Quechua 2015 Stakes, a Class 4 Division 2 race over 1200m and Lord’s Command earlier in the day, was a relieved jockey after the race.
“My horse has some issues in the barrier,” said Nunes, when asked by racing presenter Ethan Mills of his intention to go forward early from barrier 11.
“Sometimes, he jumps well, sometimes, he jumps slowly, so it all depended on how he jumped. Today, he was quiet and jumped very quick from the machine.
“I was concerned about the barrier but he put himself there. When I saw Lucky Jinsha kick inside, I just let him go. Then, I just rode my race.
“But he’s a tough horse. He always tries 100%. He’s the type of horse you can ride anywhere but it all still depends on the barrier and how he jumps. He’s very honest.”
On running down Lucky Jinsha in the final stages, Nunes conceded he was worried about the weight difference but knew his horse would try to the line.
“Lucky Jinsha is a horse that if he had an easy lead, he would be hard to run down,” said the now five-time Singapore champion jockey, who shared the racing honours on the day with Frenchman Marc Lerner as each of them scored a four-timer.
“He carried a light weight, with only 50 kilos on his back. I was worried but I know my horse can kick in the home straight.
“So while I was concerned about the 58.5kgs, Super Salute is a very honest horse and he was able to get him.”
