QUEIROZ'S SIX GRAND FOR THREE ACE RIDES

Jockey trades one-day ban for 6k fine and May I8 ticket to ride, but not in Kranji Mile

- Michael Lee

There are one million good reasons not to miss a race like the Kranji Mile.

One of them ostensibly led jockey Bruno Queiroz to part with $6,000 rather than missing out on Singapore's second-richest race.

The Brazilian's win aboard Hasten in Race 4 on April 27 did not come without a hefty price.

Stewards decided that his haste in coming across at the 1,000m, forcing Great Power to drift in, was in the two-day range gravity.

Leading reigning champion Manoel Nunes by only three winners, Queiroz could ill-afford to forgo a full book of rides at the next meeting on May 4.

At the same time, a deferment would mean missing the next two - May 12 and May 18, which is Kranji Mile day.

Queiroz was between a rock and a hard place. In the end, he did not sacrifice either, even if his pocket took a hit.

With no bookings made on May 12, he serves the first one-day ban then, but the second day is commuted to a $6,000 fine.

Queiroz was off the hook, he was free to ride on May 18, but the twist of the tale is he does not even have a ride in the $1 million Group 1 Kranji Mile (1,600m).