Perseverance pays off for Barros
Hard-working Brazilian jockey Dayversom Barros has now firmly entrenched himself in Macau racing and another double on Saturday’s turf card took him to 22 winners for the season and fifth place on the riders’ standings.
Barros got off to a flying start winning the first of the day, the 0 to 45 Special Conditions Race over 1200 metres, on the Stephen Chow-trained For Community (Jimmy Choux).
For Community handled the heavy conditions well to beat the $1.80 race favorite Chi Chai Sin Sang (Per Incanto) by a length and a half, with Luen On Prodigy (Husson) back in third.
The tried and true wet tracker One Belt One Road (Haradasun) was the second of Barros’ winners when he romped through the testing conditions to win the last of the day, the Class 4 over 1200 metres, giving the eight-year-old his eighth win in the enclave.
One Belt One Road has proved to be a good money spinner for connections with his prize money nudging the HKD$2.5 million (A$460,000) mark for his eight wins and 21 placings from 89 runs in Macau since arriving in July, 2015.
The gelding commenced his racing career in Australia, racing as War Affair when prepared by Bobby Pearse at Randwick. He placed at Randwick and Wyong in his ten runs in Sydney before being exported to Macau.
One Belt One Road is a half-brother to Real Supreme (Flying Spur), who acquitted himself well in his early days in Hong Kong, winning eight races and rising to a career high mark of 100. He was fourth in the Macau Hong Kong Trophy (Listed, 1500m) at Taipa in 2013.
Like One Belt One Road, Barros is a much-travelled jockey who – like most Brazilian jockeys – completed his apprenticeship in the famed Sao Paolo Apprentice Jockeys’ Academy.
Life was tough going early days for him and Barros decided to travel the world working in the racing industry to further his knowledge. He spent time working in places like Dubai, Belgium, Italy and the UK where he got the opportunity to ride in a few races before ending up based in Sweden.
An opportunity came for a three-month contract in Macau and Barros got off to a great start by booting home a double at only his second race meeting; he was quick to follow that up with more winners.
One of the busiest jockeys at the track in the morning, Barros has now firmly established himself and rides for a wide cross section of stables. Able to ride at 119 pounds and just 30 years old, it seems his perseverance to stay in the game is now starting to pay off.
Japanese rider Masa Tanaka kicked home his seventh winner in Macau with the Geoff Allendorf-prepared Association Seven (Manhattan Rain) in the Class 3 over 1500 metres.
Association Seven began well and soon after led. He was content to stay hard against the rail which was plainly the best part of the track.
The five-year-old was pressured around the home turn by both Mountain Eagle (Shamoline Warrior) and Pearl Lucky (Red Giant), but dropped them soon after when let stride and raced away for an easy three and a quarter lengths win over Chromium Alloy (Testa Rossa), with Magnapegasus (Magnus) a distant third.
Tanaka has been in Macau since January and, although it took him 31 rides to notch his first winner, he is starting to get a foot in the door with better opportunities coming his way.
Shogo Nakano is the second Japanese rider based in Macau and he also was seen to advantage in race five, the Class 4 & 5 over 1500 metres, on the Victor Chan-prepared Qipao Queen (Love Conquers All).
Qipao Queen went into the race with more wet form than most. She was able to race on the lead to the corner before running away for an easy win over Satono Eternal (Deep Impact) with Association Eighty (Declaration Of War) back in third.
Nakano is into his second full season in Macau and after posting 12 winners last year is now on nine victories for the current season.
As at 9.30am on Saturday morning, a total of 51 millimeters of rain had fallen on the Taipa track. A subsequent inspection established that whilst heavy, there was a good cover of grass on the track and conditions were safe.
However, later in the afternoon, the heavens opened up with some heavy downpours. Although some races were rescheduled, racing was able to continue which is a great testament to the track surface.