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Japanese mare Makanani bounced back to the winner’s circle after emerging victorious in a closely-contested finish in the $85,000 Class 2 race over 1600m on Friday night.
The Black Tide five-year-old had not saluted since she took out a Kranji Stakes B race over the mile as well, on November 11.
Since then, she took a stab at Group level three times, including the Invitational Group 1 Kranji Mile in which she ran 10th to Hong Kong's Southern Legend, but only just over seven lengths astern.
Trainer Hideyuki Takaoka then freshened the Big Valley Stable-owned mare up before bringing her back in a Class 2 race on July 21, but the seven furlongs were evidently too short, even if she made steady ground to run fourth to Nepean.
But rising up to a more appropriate mile on Friday night, the talented mare was back in her element as she came across heels at the 300m to stake her claim on the top prize.
Upfront, Loyalty Man (Joseph Azzopardi) had wrested the lead from Easy Does It (Simon Kok Wei Hoong) and looked all poised to collect a first local win second-up for Lee Freedman.
The other swoopers like Claudia's Beauty (Callan Murray), Viviano (Juan Paul van der Merwe) and Blue Swede (John Powell) were descending, too, but French jockey Marc Lerner drove Makanani ($17) hard to the line, where she finished ahead of Loyalty Man by a nose.
Claudia's Beauty took third place another half-length away with Viviano a neck away in fourth, one head in front of Blue Swede. The winning time was 1min 35.5secs for the 1600m on the Long Course.
At the post-race interview, Lerner was delighted he had been able to get a first win at his fifth ride aboard Masa Otani's galloper. His fellow countryman Olivier Placais was the winning partner at her last two wins last year.
"Finally she wins a race. She's always been running good races," said Lerner.
"In the Kranji Mile, she was not beaten far from good horses, and last time, the distance was too short.
"Tonight, I rode her positive. I was a bit scared in the straight as she took some time to get balanced up.
"Maybe it was the track. She needs the sting out of the ground and she needs further.
"I actually wanted to stay behind Loyalty Man at one stage as she's better off chasing another horse, and can settle better. But taking her to the outside was also good as she had a clear run to the line, and I was confident she would get there.
"Olivier has always told me she was a Gold Cup horse, the 2000m of the Gold Cup will suit her, I think. She just needs to settle and a wet track will help her as well.
"I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Otani for his support and at the same time wish him well done as he had not had a winner since Across The Sea in January."
As the second emergency in last year's Group 1 Dester Singapore Gold Cup (2000m), Makanani did not get a run, but she did win the Kranji Stakes B race over the mile on the undercard.
When probed whether the staying mare will have a second crack at the time-honoured race in November, Takaoka was not as enthusiastic as his jockey.
"I don't know if I will run her in bigger races. We'll see," said the soft-spoken handler.
"Tonight, the distance suited her better than her last run. There are not many races that suit her.
"As you know, it's been quite a long time we did not have longer distance races. She fought very hard for the win tonight."
With that sixth success along with two seconds from 27 starts, Makanani has taken her stakes earnings past the $330,000 mark for Otani's Big Valley Stable.
