Heliosphere is 'Berry, Berry' good

Lee Freedman has shown his hand. While the talk of the town has been Circuit Land, Freedman's ace in Sunday's Singapore Derby might just turn out to be the China Horse Club-owned Heliosphere.

The two-time winner impressed on the training track yesterday morning, running the 600m in 36.4sec.

When pulled up, he appeared to have plenty left in the tank.

This son of Sebring has been winless since late January but his recent runs seem to suggest he is coming back to his best form.

And, in a race like the Derby, his could show them who's boss.

Heliosphere knows all there is to know about the big stage.

His last two runs have been in feature events and, although there has been nothing to display on the mantelpiece, both attempts were decent.

His run in the Silver Bowl, where he finished fourth behind What's New, would have been especially encouraging to his connections.

A tad slow to clear the chute, he suffered a check soon after when stablemate Mr Clint and Richebourg engaged in a bumping duel.

But he extricated himself from the situation and came home full of running to finish a length and a half behind the winner. He was back in action three weeks later and lined up with the cream in the Stewards' Cup over the mile.

From the betting point of view, not much was expected from him and he carried only lukewarm support. Having to race wide for most of the trip, he finished down the course.

Ignore that run. Heliosphere was probably having an off day. He's better than that and he's certainly worth a punt in the big one on Sunday.

Freedman obviously thinks so, too. He will be flying in top hoop Tommy Berry for Heliosphere and that's a jockey who knows what it's like to win the big ones.

He won the 2013 Singapore Gold Cup on the Michael Freedman-trained Tropiaos and, two years later, he triumped with Dan Excel in the Singapore Airlines International Cup.

Yes, and as the humble racegoers will say, "he's Berry, Berry good".

Another one to keep on notice is Sacred Croix.

From Mark Walker's yard, he was put through his paces by apprentice jockey Zawari Razali who had him in check to run the distance in 38.9sec.

A $200,000 purchase as a yearling in New Zealand, Sacred Croix has turned out to be a regular money-pinner for his owner, the Raffles Racing Stable.

To date, he has repaid his purchase price - helped in a big way when he put together a "four-bagger" across March to April.

He has had two runs coming into the big one and both have been top-notch.

Indeed, his performance in the Stewards' Cup would have boosted the membership to his fan club.

That day, when ridden by Benny Woodworth, he raced wide and came home like a good horse to take second spot behind What's New.

That race being over the mile, Sacred Croix shouldn't have a problem seeing out the Derby distance of 1,800m.

GALLOPS BY *ORSES ENGAGED ON SUNDAY

RACE 1

Majestic 40.2. Comecatchme pace work. Hero In The Wind (M Lerner) 38.5. Plato* 40.3. Zman (C Murray) 39.8.

RACE 2

Pisca Pisca (CC Wong) 38.5. Fort Mustang (JP van der Merwe) 36.8.

RACE 3

Super Tycoon 36.2. I'm Incredible* (M Kellady) 37.7. Turf Princess* 37.3. Lim's Craft* (B Woodworth) 40.2. Overcoming 40.3.

RACE 4

Absolute Miracle (Murray) 37.8. Keng Mak Mak (K A'Isisuhairi) 38.3. Galileo's Approach (Kellady) 38.4. Lim's Ripple canter/39.2. Dreamer Legend (D Moor) 40.1. Dazzle Gold 37.6. Yulong Sheng Long 40.4.

RACE 5

Helushka 39.6. Darci's Boy (J Powell) 45. Evil Speedo (S John) 40.4. Ferocious (Woodworth) 39.9. Gingerman 39.7. Dragonite (Murray) 38.4. Top Banana 36.7.

RACE 6

Gold Strike canter/39.6. Star Jack* (Lerner) 37.3. Chocolats* (Kellady) 37.7. Mr Exchequer (Powell) 36.9. Athletica (Powell) 37.6.

RACE 7

Karisto 40.5. Little Big Man* (R Iskandar) 38.9. Crown Gift pace work. Nationality 36.1. Supernova (Moor) 37.2. Loving You* 36.4.

RACE 8

Makanani (Lerner) 39.3. Loyalty Man (J Azzopardi) 40.2. Curvature 35.6. Nepean* (Kellady) 36.9. Viviano (I Azhar) 38.9.

RACE 9 (SINGAPORE DERBY)

Mr Clint* (Moor) 37.7. Quarter Back* 36.8. Sacred Croix* (R Zawari) 38.9. Circuit Mission 40.3. Sun Marshal (Azzopardi) 40.4. Glasgow canter/39.2. Heliosphere* 36.4. Super Dynasty (John) 37. Destroyer Eclipse (Mor) 37.4. Gold Strike canter/39.7.

RACE 10

Wind Of Liberty 37.3. Drone* 36..4. Irving Lipschitz (Moor) 39.8. O'What A Feeling* (Powell) 37.7. Sebastian Bach (A Syahir) 41.3. Mings Man 38.4. Silent Boss 41.4.

GALLOPS BY *ORSES ENGAGED TOMORROW

RACE 3

Yulong Honour 42.5.

RACE 6

Tingle Marc 40.8.