Fortuna Mare, VENUS DE MILO, wins for the 2nd time in Singapore

Fortuna Syndications Four Year Old Mare, VENUS DE MILO, proved that her Maiden win in Singapore in January was no fluke, when just 5 starts later she won again in Singapore 12th April in the Class 5 1600m event on the Polytrack for $30,000 of prize money.

The excitement of riding his first Singapore winner, since relocating from New Zealand, on his first night of riding in Singapore, was very obvious for the Malaysian born apprentice jockey Riduan Abu Bakar (he rode as Nik Bakar in NZ), as he launched into a dramatic victory salute when still 20 metres short of the winning post – an action which landed him a S$500 fine from the Stewards

Drawn wide at Barrier 10 in an 11 horse field VENUS DE MILO (Burgundy-Breezed) settled into a three wide with cover position in the run, but from about the 500 metre mark, Bakar started to edge her forward and on turning into the straight set out after the leader, gathered it in at the 200 metre mark and went on to win by 3/4 length at the line

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Venus de Milo – Wins again 12th April 2019 – Rider Nik Bakar triumphant

Bakar, who chalked up a haul of 13 winners in 62 rides in his two years in New Zealand for a healthy strike rate of 4.6 (21%), mostly for his NZ master,  Jamie Richards, certainly bore the hallmark of an experienced rookie in the way he handled Venus De Milo, a tricky mare who is not the easiest to handle.

Fortuna Syndications Boss, John Galvin, was well pleased. “Venus de Milo is not very big, but she has the heart of a lion – it took her a long time (24 starts) to win her 1st race in Singapore, but now she has scored again just five starts later and has had some bad luck in a couple of those runs. She has now won prizemoney in 18 of her 29 starts. Nik rode her perfectly and she was beautifully prepared by our Singapore Trainer, Mark Walker.”

VENUS DE MILO was acquired by John Galvin in a private sale for NZ$20,000 and is raced by the Fortuna Venus de Milo Syndicate, an ownership group comprising 30 individuals.