Mr Black Back the dark horse: Nunes

The best horse does not always win in small fields.

But Mr Black Back has done his Singapore Gold Cup hopes no harm, even after beating only four runners in the $70,000 Wild Geese 2014 Stakes Class 3 race over 1,800m on Saturday.

“Don’t look at the small field, he won a very good race. I couldn’t pull him up after the line,” said stand-in jockey Manoel Nunes.

“Small fields can be tricky. Super Impact has got speed, but mine was very quick out of the machine.

“He put himself there and I just controlled the pace from there. He’s a good horse, considering he’s had only three starts.”

Kept at 67 points after a Kranji debut third, the Tim Fitzsimmons-trained Snitzel five-year-old needed at least two solid wins to have a shot at the $1 million Group 1 event over 2,000m on Nov 19.

Half the battle was won when the Wagga Guineas winner (then known as Maranoa in Australia) ran rings around his rivals in a Class 4 race over 1,400m on Oct 2.

A subsequent six-point penalty saw him vault to 20th place in the order of entry.

With the time-honoured showpiece capped at 16 runners, Saturday’s race – in which another Gold Cup hopeful, Super Impact, was also after those limited seats – had turned into make-or-break time.

Vlad Duric not making the 56kg weight mattered little when the supersub was another champion.

Nunes bounced Mr Black Back straight to the lead. A dominant winner from off the pace at his last start, Super Impact (Jake Bayliss) repeated the same tactics in third.

But it was clear, from the way Mr Black Back was enjoying an uncontested lead, that trainer Donna Logan’s galloper was on a hiding to nothing. 

Amore Amore was the only one who could have rivalled Mr Black Back in the speed department, but was soon a spent force after being overrestrained by Wong Chin Chuen in second spot.

Into the straight, Super Impact came mowing down in his trademark low-slung neck galloping style, but the dour stayer barely put an indent into the margin.

The handicapper punched in another six points on his calculator for the one-length win, but Mr Black Back was still in the red zone.

He has now crept up to 17th place, tied with Super Impact and stablemate In All His Glory on 79 points.

“If he gets into the Gold Cup with a light weight, he’s going to be a live chance,” said Fitzsimmons. 

“I think he would lead them easily over the 2,000m, and he’s hard to get past.

“There was an option to sit off the speed today, but he’s such a natural front runner. In those small tricky fields, sometimes it doesn’t work, but it did today. It’s a great result.”

Nunes may have been only warming the saddle, but the Brazilian horseman said his off-the-cuff ride would be a live Gold Cup chance should he make the cut.

“If he gets in at a low weight, he could be the dark horse in the Gold Cup. But I won’t be riding him as I’m on Relentless,” he said.

Nunes was a bit disappointed with Relentless’ ninth place in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup over 1,800m on Saturday, even if the $14 favourite was beaten only about 21/2 lengths by the winner Prosperous Return.

The Stipendiary Stewards’ report stated that he was “held up from the 600m to the 300m”.

“He did get caught in traffic, but actually, he had every chance. He had plenty of time to make ground after he got a clear run. But he just didn’t quicken, maybe the track was too firm,” said Nunes.

“He doesn’t come around the outside and keep going like Prosperous Return. With him, you have to keep in amongst horses and just save him for that last burst. 

“The Gold Cup remains a very open race, especially at the handicap. My horse will still get in at a low weight and will love the trip.”