Watch Augustano and Heliosphere
Freedman's pair have good chances on their impressive Kranji hit-outs
Champion trainer Lee Freedman's Augustano and Heliosphere were certainly the star performers on a relatively quiet morning of trackwork at Kranji yesterday.
There were not much sparks to brighten up the morning until the two horses went through their paces in preparation for Friday's meeting.
Augustano was taken out by two-time Singapore champion jockey Vlad Duric and the four-year-old Australian-bred gelding sped over 600m on the Polytrack in 37.8sec.
The horse was so full of running that he finished deep into the backstretch.
Augustano, a five-time winner from 16 starts, was backed with some confidence last start on Jan 6 and was not disgraced in finishing third over the Poly 1,100m. He finished only about 11/4 lengths behind the winner, Webster.
Obviously fitter with the run under his belt, he could make amends in Friday's Class 2 event over 1,400m.
Stablemate Heliosphere had jockey Daniel Moor aboard when he stretched out beautifully over 600m in 38sec and pulled with without raising a sweat.
The smart debut winner also ran third last time out. In that Jan 11 race over 1,400m, it took him a while to rev up and finish only about ¾ lengths behind Black Jade.
Heliosphere, too, has firmed up and should also atone for his failure.
The extra 200m to a mile in the Kranji Stakes C event should suit him to a T.
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