A fresh and rejuvenated Wallinger landed a first-up victory in the Ace Aliado Handicap over 1000m on the Polytrack on Friday night.
Having his first start in three months, Wallinger, ridden by leading apprentice Shafiq Rusof, scored a half-length victory over Lago Bay (John Powell) with Getreel (Joao Moreira) a length-and-a-quarter back in third place.
The victory also gave trainer Michael Freedman his 50th winner of the 2011 season.
Powell had to use Lago Bay a little in the early stages from his outside draw to cross and lead over Tentenwin (Koh Teck Huat) with Good Striker (Barend Vorster) and Wallinger next in line.
Little changed as the field made their way to home turn with Excelify (Danny Beasley) and a stablemate of the winner moving into contention.
Shafiq bided his time until well into the straight by which time Lago Bay had opened up a break on his chasing opponents, but the early work told and Wallinger was able to overhaul him in the shadows of the post.
Freedman said Wallinger had enjoyed his break after finishing a disappointing 11th in a 1000m Class 3 Stakes back on August 12.
“He had dropped quite a bit of body weight up to his last run and that's usually a sign that they have had enough,” said Freedman.
“He can be a bit of a sulky sort of horse, so we tipped him out for a month a just pottered around the stable with him.
“He's come back nice and fresh and bouncy and I think that's the secret with him. Give him some time between his runs, I think that's best for him.”
Freedman said he had no ambitious plans for Wallinger but is hopeful with the victory that the new owners of Segenhoe Stud – the owners of Wallinger – may send a few more horses to Singapore.
“Hopefully this win might have come at the right time,” said Freedman. “With the new ownership at Segenhoe Stud maybe they might think about sending a few more horses this way.
“This horse has done a pretty good job since he's been here. He's won close to $200,000 in prizemoney.
“He'll probably be somewhere near the top of Class 3 now, so we'll just sit down and hopefully find a suitable race for him.”
A five-year-old Australian-bred by Shamardal from the Agnes World mare Angel Of The South, Wallinger has now won three of his 18 starts in Singapore with a further seven placings on top of the two wins he had in Australia before his shift.
