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The Lee Freedman trained Heliosphere made an encouraging Singapore debut when too good in the final event on Sunday.
Formerly trained by Gerald Ryan, Heliosphere displayed above average ability in Australia, placing in four of his five attempts.
On debut he finished fourth behind Group 1 winner Kementari, before breaking his maiden status at Warwick Farm over the mile.Rock solid in three subsequent performances, he came over to Singapore rated 96 by Timeform, a figure which would see him very competitive.
Off the scene for close to a year (358 days), Heliosphere was well prepped up for his Singapore debut, trialling twice.On both occasions he was very impressive and looked to have acclimatised well to his new surroundings.
While the times on the polytrack can vary somewhat (weather dependent), generally running close to a minute at the trials is good going.Heliosphere ran 1:00.40 at his first before running 1:00.61 at his second, on both occasions he carried 66kg and looked to do it easily.
Off a rating of just 61, he was given every chance by the handicapper and pre-race I thought he was entitled to give them a good towelling.While it was no space job a 0.8L victory was enough to land the money and he is sure to derive plenty of improvement from that effort.
On a day when it was hard to make up a lot of ground down the middle, his performance on the surface may have been a lot better than it first appeared.In Australia Heliosphere had the habit of being slow away, however Freedman appears to have ironed out that chink, with the four-year-old jumping with them and settling midfield under Grylls.
Although forced to travel three-wide, Grylls kept him comfortable and in a good rhythm.Tracking Reach For The Sun into the straight, Heliosphere pulled one of the widest runners on straightening, before setting his sights on Copacabana.
Allowed to work through his gears, Heliosphere took over inside the 100m, before drawing away for a nice win.While not a decisive margin, there was a further four lengths back to third and given how the track played, he is expected to springboard right off that mark at his next outing.
In Australia his best form was achieved at 1400m and judging by his effort on Sunday, he should only continue to improve when stepped up in trip.At just his sixth start, Heliosphere looks to have a fair bit his sleeve and his future certainly looks bright under Freedman.
Based on his best form when formerly trained by Ryan he has close to 4L in hand - there are certainly more wins in store.He is a must for your blackbook, in 12 months time, he could be one of the better horses racing in Singapore.