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| Staff Writer |
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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 40YO can proudly stare at his own name etched on the honor roll thanks to a horse he always knew had stacks of ability.
The way the son of Star Turn slayed his rivals, he has a vice-like grip on the next leg, the Gr.2 Singapore 3YO 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.
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 that luck would finally not desert Golden Monkey this time.
Favorite Silent Is Gold (Ronnie Stewart) looked like 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.
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 200m.
Champion jockey Manoel Nunes luckily escaped without any serious injury. He still stood down in the last race.