First group win for trainer Fitzsimmons

Golden Monkey’s rousing win in the $110,000 Group 3 Singapore Three-Year-Old Sprint (1,200m) on Saturday (June 18) has handed trainer Tim Fitzsimmons his maiden success in a feature race.

The writing had been on the wall that this year would be the Australian’s.

After a quiet start to the first two seasons, Cliff Brown’s former assistant trainer hit his straps with a fourth place on 33 winners last year.

It turned out he was just warming up to the task. He has literally exploded onto the scene in 2022 with a glut of winners almost every week, not to mention the coveted lead on the trainers’ log.

Group success was, however, still missing on his resume, but he has ticked that box now.

The 40-year-old can proudly stare at his own name etched on the honour roll thanks to a horse he always knew had stacks of ability. 

“I’ve had a few placings but this is my first Group win,” he said. 

“I’ve been part of Singapore racing for a long time, 15 years, and had many Group wins with Cliff, but it’s a huge thrill to win my own. Hopefully, this is the first of many.”

Fitzsimmons’ wish may well come true.

The way the son of Star Turn slayed his rivals, he has a vice-like grip on the next leg, the Group 2 Singapore Three-Year-Old Classic (1,400m) on July 9. 

For now, Fitzsimmons would rather soak in that watershed moment of his young career, which he said was a teamwork effort.

“This horse has really come on. He’s more relaxed now,” he said.

“Oscar Chavez has done all the work and his trials, but I have to also give credit to my track riders, especially Kali (Kalimuthu Ganasen) who gallops him.

“A lot of the owners flew up from Australia over the week, most of them were here today. Josh McLoughlan got this syndicate together.”

When Fitzsimmons saw Chavez posting Golden Monkey off the girth of his other runner Gold Ten Sixty-One (Jake Bayliss), he had a good hunch luck would finally not desert Golden Monkey this time.

“I was quietly confident going into the race. I knew how hard his last run (Novice race over 1,200m) was while the other horse (Silent Is Gold) had an easy run,” he said.

“Oscar was still confident before the race. I just told him to ride him like the best horse in the race.

“Once Oscar put him behind the leader, he was one off the fence, and the race mapped out well for them. He then just used his turn of foot in the straight.”

Favourite Silent Is Gold (Ronnie Stewart) looked the winner when he collared Gold Ten Sixty-One at the top of the straight, but the gold medal was going elsewhere.

Golden Monkey ($29) set sail down the middle with a sizzling acceleration that put them in the shade in a few hops.

Chavez, who was at his second Sprint win after Conflight in 2016, always knew his luckless pet three-year-old would get the “monkey” off his back.

“This horse just needed a draw. Today I had so much horse left, but I was just waiting and waiting before I press the button,” he said.

“Once he came out, he just cruised to the front.

“I could have won without using the stick, but I didn’t want to be too cocky. Once I went for it, he just took off.”

Silent Is Gold held on gamely for second 31/4 lengths away with Gold Ten Sixty-One third another 21/4 lengths away. The winning time was 1min 8.87sec for the 1,200m on the short course.

The final stages were not without drama with the well-backed Alqantur breaking down at the 200m. 

Champion jockey Manoel Nunes luckily escaped without any serious injury. He was still stood down in the last race.

Alqantur was less fortunate as he was later euthanised.