Curatolo riding in rich vein of form

If Ryan Curatolo's first Singapore sojourns had left him wanting more, he certainly was getting his fill early into his third stint in 2024.

After getting off to a flying start at his very first ride, Commander Jones, on Jan 20, the French jockey upped the ante with a hat-trick of wins at his second Kranji meeting one week later on Jan 27.

For good measure, the hungry jockey steered home Our Secret Weapon ($27), October ($27) and Lion Spirit ($10) in quickfire succession in the first three races.

He, however, did not enjoy the same luck with his remaining five rides. He even returned with a bloodied nose after Winning Stride reared behind the gates and knocked him in the face in Race 9.

But, the globe-trotting 31-year-old was not complaining about his day - as well as the way his second long-term Singapore stay has panned out thus far.

After his appetite was whetted by a double at his maiden one-day visit in 2017, he chalked up 33 winners at his first full season in 2018.

Though it is still early days, a fourth place at only his second meeting at a high strike rate of 30.77 per cent has set the stage for potentially his best Singapore campaign yet.

"I've had a lot of support since I arrived, and I hope to keep up the momentum," said Curatolo, who last rode in Dubai and US before he kicked off his one-year Singapore licence.

"I ride for a lot of trainers like Donna Logan, Stephen Gray, Steven Burridge every morning, including most of my rides today, like the maiden October.

"I thought I had some good bullets today, but I really liked October. If he ran up to form, I knew he'd be in the mix."

The Gray-trained Ocean Park three-year-old was coming off two seconds with Matthew Kellady up in two Open Maiden races.

Besides doing his homework, Curatolo did due diligence by also jumping on the gelding for a spot of pace work, just for that extra insight.

He liked what sat underneath him, though he felt the chestnut gelding still had some way to go before becoming the finished article.

"I rode him one morning and he felt good, nice and relaxed," said Curatolo.

"His form is so much better on turf and he was on the right distance, and had a good draw (four).

"But he was green to the line, he was going right and left. Luckily, he found just enough to put his head in front right on the line.

"I think 1,400m is his best distance."

Assistant trainer Saimee Jumaat, deputising for Gray who was in New Zealand to attend the Karaka Yearling sale, confirmed that it is still taking October a month of Sundays for the penny to drop.

"He's quite immature and quirky. Like today, he was floating around in the home straight," said the former champion jockey.

"He won a nice trial coming into today's race and has been running well for Matthew Kellady.

"Matty was supposed to ride him, but he hurt himself in the parade ring last week and is out injured.

"Ryan has done a good job on him. We may look for a Novice race over 1,400m for him next."

While the first pin of Curatolo's treble on Our Secret Weapon in the opener, the $30,000 Class 5 Division 1 (1,000m) was rather straightforward, the more laudable handling arguably came aboard the Kuah Cheng Tee-trained Lion Spirit.

Granted, the US-bred seven-year-old was the even-money favourite in the $30,000 Class 5 race (1,600m), but Curatolo had to think on his feet to avoid trouble mid-race behind Pacific Beauty, the mount of Marc Lerner.

"When two or three went past me and I found myself further back than I thought, I decided to get off the rail," he said.

"I had a good cart behind Marc's horse but when he stopped, I had to keep my horse improving around. He then quickened very well in the last 100m.

"Our Secret Weapon had to come out quickly to have a chance. It's a big advantage over 1,000m.

"They didn't put any pressure on him and he just kept going."

manyan@sph.com.sg