It was a successful hit and run mission for champion jockey Manoel Nunes in Macau on the weekend, after the Brazilian ace guided home eight-year-old Sacred Magnate to victory in the Group 1 Macau Gold Cup (1800m) at Taipa Racecourse on Saturday.
The Joe Lau-trained gelding settled worse than midfield throughout the event and worked strongly into the race approaching the straight. Once balanced up and in clean air, Nunes asked the evergreen galloper to sprint and he quickly had the race won over concluding stages.
Sacred Magnate’s official winning margin was one length over stable and equal 2/1 favourite, Star Of Yiu Cheung. Coincidentally, the pair fought out last year’s Macau Gold Cup, with Star Of Yiu Cheung getting the better of Sacred Magnate by a neck margin.
Fellow Brazilian Ruan Maia was also successful on the day, winning race four aboard Champion Gold.
Being the final meeting of the season, the Champion Trainer, Jockey and Apprentice were crowned; Trainer Y C Fung and Jockey L Corrales and Apprentice A Liu won the titles respectively. The winning Trainer, Jockey and Apprentice trophies were presented by Mr Ben To, Chief Operations Officer of Macau Jockey Club.
