NUNES LEAVES AUSTRALIA, BUT VOWS TO COME BACK

Brazilian five-time S'pore champion jockey quits Adelaide to take up Mauritius contract

- Michael Lee

Former five-time Singapore champion jockey Manoel Nunes is on the move again.

Eight months after taking his saddle to Adelaide following the closure of Singapore racing on Oct 5, the Brazilian ace is being lured back to a country where he once ruled the roost – Mauritius.

One of the leading stables on the racing-mad Indian Ocean island rolled out the red carpet to the 2019 Mauritius champion jockey last week, after talks with two Australian jockeys who are no stranger to Kranji fell through, Noel Callow and Daniel Moor.

Nunes thought long and hard about the offer from the Gujadhur family as the racing experience in his new Adelaide base has overall been enjoyable, even if the wins have tapered off recently.

With 26 wins (including two at a trial to test the waters in August) from 200 rides since his debut at Murray Bridge on Oct 12, the 49-year-old sits in seventh place on South Australia's metropolitan log, a fair gap off the premiership-battling duo of Rochelle Milnes (41) and Taylor Johnstone (39).

On the other hand, Nunes was a household name in Mauritius, treated like Hollywood celebrity wherever he went, but at the same time, its horse racing has since lost its lustre.

It had been at the crossroads after Covid-19 struck in 2020, and the Mauritius Turf Club (MTC) was eventually ousted under controversial circumstances in the last two years.

It has been claimed that the newly created organiser had close links with the previous government.