Nunes to ride in Raffles Cup
Fellow Brazilian Machado will also ride in the Group 1 race and the Group 3 Ultima El Dorado Classic
Three-time Singapore champion jockey Manoel Nunes has been granted a licence by the Singapore Turf Club to ride at the Group 1 Raffles Cup meeting on Sept 22.
Fellow Brazilian rider, new face Luan Machado, will also be riding at the same meeting.
In addition, he has also been given the nod to ride at the Group 3 Ultima El Dorado Classic meeting on Sept 20.
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The El Dorado Classic, which is over 2,000m and carries $150,000 in prize money, is regarded as the main lead-up to the blue riband of the local turf - the Singapore Gold Cup.
Nunes, 43, was among the leading jockeys at Kranji between 2013 and 2017. He landed the champion jockey title from 2014 to 2016.
He left with a total of 496 winners.
He has been booked by trainer Michael Clements to ride the Joe Giovanni-owned recent Group 2 Merlion Trophy winner Countofmontecristo in the Raffles Cup. He will also ride other horses raced by Giovanni on the day.
During his five-year Singapore stint, Nunes claimed many feature races, none more prestigious than the Group 1 Emirates Singapore Derby twice - first with Spalato in 2014 and then Infantry in 2017.
After serving his apprenticeship in Brazil in 1995, Nunes immediately made his mark at home, but became more famous on the global stage when he moved to Macau in 2002.
Besides claiming the title six times in the former Portuguese enclave, he won 38 Group races there, including 15 in Group 1.
All up, over his 24-year-long riding career spanning across other countries like Argentina, Hong Kong, Dubai, South Korea and Mauritius, Nunes has won more than 1,900 races, including 71 Group races - 24 of which were at Group 1 level - and 74 Listed races.
Nunes is currently based on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, where he tops the national log on 27 winners.
On Sunday, he claimed the most prestigious race there, the Group 1 Maiden Cup aboard White River.
Nunes goes to scale at 53kg.
Machado, 25, is currently based in America, where he is licensed by the Indiana Horse Racing Commission.
He has been booked to ride Elite Quarteto in the Group 3 El Dorado Classic and Elite Excalibur in the Group 1 Raffles Cup over 1,600m. The Raffles Cup carries $800,000 in stakes.
Machado's career began nine years ago, following his graduation from the Jockey School at Hipodromo da Gavea in Rio de Janeiro.
After riding nearly 300 winners in Brazil, he relocated to America last November.
In total, he boasts more than 350 winners, including the Group 1 2018 Grande Premio Brasil, incidentally aboard Elite Quarteto, then known as Quarteto De Cordas.
He also captured the Group 3 Copa ABCPCC Velocidade- Mario Belmonte Moglia.
Machado has brought up a total of 40 winners from 263 rides for the current season.
He goes to scale at 54kg.
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