Brothers in arms thriving in their shared environment
Dennis Ryan - Raceform • May 1st, 2025 11:46 AM • 5 min read
Brotherly bonds between Malaysian-born duo Shankar and Ruvanesh Muniandy have never been stronger following Loose Sally’s stakes double in the South Island over recent weeks.
As the respective trainer and jockey of the Turn Me Loose filly, the Wingatui-based brothers have shared responsibilities in her progression from debut winner on her home track in early November, to third placegetter on Boxing Day in the Listed NZB Insurance Stakes, winner of the Listed Dunedin Guineas on March 1, and in her coup de grace, the Listed NZB Warstep Stakes at Riccarton Park on Saturday.
That win in the final leg of the NZB Southern Filly of the Year series coincided with Shankar Muniandy’s 38th birthday, 17 years after he rode his first winner as an apprentice jockey with White Robe Lodge trainers Brian and Shane Anderton.
In between times he has added another 236 wins in the saddle, and now as a dual licence-holder, 15 wins as a trainer. Meanwhile the decade-younger Ruvanesh has been fashioning his own record with 32 wins as an apprentice indentured to his brother.
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of this story is that the Muniandy family had no connection to racing until Shankar, the eldest of five children, began riding trackwork at Malaysia’s Penang racecourse.
“I got to know a New Zealander, Sandy Shaw, up there and she arranged for me to come to New Zealand in 2006 with the idea of becoming a jockey,” Muniandy told RaceForm. “About six months after arriving here I hooked up with the Andertons and it all went from there.”
Muniandy topped 100 wins during his apprenticeship, among them back-to-back victories in the 2011 and 2012 Gr. 3 Canterbury Gold Cup on Anderton stable favourite Inferno, who he was to partner in all 10 of her wins. Further big wins followed in the Listed Riverton Cup on Patrick Erin and Wingatui’s biggest race, the Gr. 3 White Robe Lodge WFA, on another member of the Anderton stable, Tommy Tucker.
After a personal best of 40 wins in 2010-11 and continuing to rack up double-digit tallies after joining senior jockey ranks, Muniandy went through a lean patch that precipitated a move back to Malaysia in 2019, however that was short-lived.
“Soon after I arrived back home Covid struck, and I ended up being stuck there for nearly three years doing more or less nothing. Once we were able to travel again, I couldn’t wait to get back to New Zealand.”
On his return to Wingatui Muniandy decided to add a trainer’s licence, while at the same time doing well from limited riding opportunities with wins that included the Dunedin and Southland Guineas on Palmetto.
His training career began perfectly by winning with his first starter, She’s An Ace, at Wingatui in May 2022, and for good measure he also rode the debutante. That was one of just five raceday starters in the remaining months of the season and another 14 wins have followed from the small team Muniandy trains from rented stabling at Wingatui racecourse.
The addition of his younger brother Ruvanesh to his list of responsibilities has been a welcome challenge for the senior member of the brothers in arms.
“Ruvanesh was what I would call a boisterous teenager that my parents were having trouble controlling. He loved riding motorbikes, so I said to him if you’re wanting to take those sorts of risks you may as well be a jockey and at least have something to show for it.
“So he came down here and eventually signed up with me. The two of us ride all the work with the team and even though I still have a jockey’s licence, I figured there was no point in both of us riding on raceday.
“So I’m happy for him to be the stable jockey while I do the training, and it’s working out well for both of us.”
Ruvanesh rode 16 winners in his first season and Saturday’s win on Loose Sally matched that tally three-quarters of the way through this season, with nine of those 32 wins coming on horses trained by his brother.
As a dual stakes winner, current stable star Loose Sally is writing another chapter in racing’s long list of bargain buys – and at $600 when she was purchased off the online Gavelhouse platform, she’s somewhere near the top of that list.
“I was the one that bought her,” says Shankar. “Ray Chalkin was already a stable client with shares in horses with me and he had said he wouldn’t mind racing one by himself.
“When I bought this filly I told him about it and what I had paid for her, and he said ‘You’re kidding, there must be something wrong with her.’
“So I showed her to him and said she’s yours if you want her, and that’s how Ray ended up owning her. I don’t mind, he’s a good client, I still get to train her and Ruvanesh rides her, so we’re all happy.”
While Otago is a far cry from Malaysia for the Muniandy brothers, it’s an environment they appreciate and one that’s serving them well.
“The best thing that happened for me was connecting with the Andertons,” says Shankar. “They and the Kennedys and others here are always there to give advice when we want it – in that way Wingatui is an amazing place.”
As for Loose Sally, Saturday was her season finale and now she’s enjoying a well-earned spell.
“She’s got the makings of a very good stayer,” says her trainer referencing a dominant win at her first attempt at 2000m. “Once she’s fully matured, that’s when we’ll see the best of her, so that’s something to look forward to.”
