Back for another Singapore stint after six years, Ryan Curatolo showed that he was not about to buck the trend of scoring on his first day at the office.
On the scoresheet right off the bat at his two previous Kranji sojourns, the 31-year-old French jockey was lucky for the third time on Jan 20.
Just like at his very first Singapore ride on Golden Spark (later renamed Magic Seven) at his maiden one-day visit in September 2017, the US-trained rider was off to a flyer at his 2024 baptism of fire on the Tan Kah Soon-trained Commander Jones in the $30,000 Class 5 Division 1 race (1,400m).
At his second stay in 2018 (when he did one full season), he did not strike at his first booking, but the fourth, on Yaya Papaya.
Curatolo, who cut short his Dubai tenure by two months to honour his one-year 2024 Singapore Turf Club licence, said there was no secret recipe to his Kranji flying starts - just handy horses to steer.
This story is from the January 22, 2024 edition of The Straits Times.
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This story is from the January 22, 2024 edition of The Straits Times.
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