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The Singapore Turf Club has granted Brazilian jockey Ruan Maia a visiting jockey’s licence to ride at the Queen Elizabeth II Cup meeting on 21 October, 2018 and Dester Singapore Gold Cup meeting on 11 November, 2018.

Currently licensed by the Macau Jockey Club, the 30-year-old jockey is booked to ride Circuit Land for Lee Freedman in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (1800m) and Group 1 Dester Singapore Gold Cup (2000m). Maia visited Kranji for a similar big-race assignment in April, capturing the Group 2 Chairman’s Trophy (1600m) with the same horse.

Riding since 2006, Maia has racked up more than 500 winners, around one fifth of which came in Macau where he relocated from his Sao Paulo base in September 2016.

Maia made an immediate impact on the Taipa racing scene, booting home 31 winners to finish fourth on the ladder at his first season before running away with the title in the 2017-2018 season on 60 winners.

Besides the Chairman’s Trophy, Maia has, among his Group and Listed wins mostly notched in Brazil, landed the 2016 Group 1 J Adhemar de Almeida Prado aboard Maraton in Sao Paulo, the Group 1 Macau Gold Cup with River Control in August and the Group 3 GEG Sand Specialist Stakes aboard Best Of Luck in March, both in Macau.

Maia goes to scale at 53kgs.