It's not that often a debutant is one of the stand-out performances of the weekend but such is the case with the John O'Hara trained Spalato who simply demoralised his rivals on Sunday.
First transferred to Singapore from New Zealand at the back end of 2012 following some solid trial performances, it is understood the son of Elusive City was held back from making his debut due to some bone chips being removed.
Stepping out as a four-year-old on Sunday, Spalato proceeded to space his rivals by over nine lengths after travelling comfortably up close to the lead.
While not the best away, Spalato quickly recovered to settle up on the speed and while three-wide throughout he quickly loomed up to the leader upon straightening and when given full-bore he showed a sharp turn of foot to race away from his rivals.
Ridden out right to the line, it was one of the more decisive victories we have seen in Singapore for some time and the clock proceeded to back up these claims.
Successful in recording comparatively the quickest time of the afternoon, his performance was further emphasised by his very slick closing sectional.
In comparison to the three others race held on the polytrack (1600m, 1700m & 1000m), Spalato was recorded to be close to five lengths quicker and given the ease to which he achieved this feat, more does appear to be in store for this four-year-old.
He was also close to three lengths quicker than the Class 4 event held later in the day and emphasises the high level of his performance.
In what proved the first victory in Singapore for apprentice rider Thavakumar Barnabas, trainer John O'Hara was also taken back by his performance stating after the race that he was surprised by the decisive margin.
While one must not get too carried away following a debut victory it does appear that Spalato is more than your average debut winner and more wins do appear in store as he is expected to make the rise through the grades in the future.
From a handicapping perspective we would like to see Spalato repeat this high level of performance again before making a more definitive assessment, however on first impressions he is a galloper one can follow with confidence.
The Bruce Marsh trained Supernova proceeded to raise the bar again on the weekend when he looked to relish the step p to 1400m.
Backing up quickly following his narrow defeat on the short course last Sunday behind Hard Stuff, the son of Elusive City proved successful in bringing up a winning treble for the Zack Zurriman/Marsh combination in the eighth event.
Having only been seen over seven furlongs once previously when narrowly beaten by Holy Empire back last year in October, Supernova proceeded to live up to that high level of form when overcoming a wide run in trip to score narrowly from Holy Warrior.
Appearing to be in trouble early in the straight, Supernova showed great resilience to fight off Holy Warrior after being headed at the 300m mark and kick back right in the shadows of the post.
Successful in bringing up a new career peak, Supernova has continually raised the bar throughout his career and does appear open to further improvement when tried up to a mile.
Although somewhat disappointing at the beginning of this preparation, his victory on Sunday brought up his seventh from 15 career starts and he is now definitely on track to keep improving this time in.
Marsh indicated after the race that he does expect to step Supernova out over a mile in the future and he is worth keeping safe in upcoming events.
While he didn't prove successful in defeating Supernova, Holy Warrior's performance suggests he is on track to reach the high level of form once achieved when first trained in France.
Having only joined the Michael Freedman camp this year, Holy Warrior has raced in good order in his first five starts in Singapore and is one to keep a close eye on when tried up to 2000m.
His best form in France came over this trip and if able to reach that level of form in Singapore he should prove very hard to beat off his current mark.
