The wonderfully-named Yabadabadoo returned to winning ways by making every post a winning one even if his many backers were not unhappy to see the one that mattered the most arrive soon enough in the $80,000 Class 3 race over 1200m on Friday night.

The head-win incidentally gave in-form trainer Michael Clements the outright lead in the Singapore premiership. Already a winner of two races for the night – Only Win and the dead-heating Safeer – Clements was saddling his second hat-trick of wins for the season (first one bagged on New Year’s Day) to take his tally to 15 winners, one clear of long-time leader Steven Burridge, who returned empty-handed on Friday.

Earlier on, Clements had pencilled in the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge for Only Win, and three races later, he had another likely forerunner in another age series in Yabadabadoo in the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge, of which he claimed two Legs with Countofmontecristo – races in the same purple silks of Joe Singh’s as Yabadabadoo - last year.

Ridden for the first time by Ryan Curatolo, Yabadabadoo ($15) was out like a shot to grab the lead from the get-go. However, the son of Makfi could not cross with Captain Jamie (Barend Vorster) kicking up on the rails to keep him honest, but Curatolo was not the least bit fazed by his one-off spot.

Sitting pretty in the saddle, the French jockey showed great patience, only giving Yabadabadoo a wriggle-on after the pair cornered for the judge. Captain Jamie tried to rally but was left rooted to the spot on the fence while Stunning Cat (Krisna Thangamani) who had stalked Yabadabadoo from the off, could not quite keep up when Clements’ gun three-year-old took it up the straight.

The fear Yabadabadoo may have hit the front too early was there, especially as the New Zealand-bred chestnut could not quite ping clear but was able to hold down his spot tenaciously. Half a furlong out, the cat looked safely in the bag, but an upset was still in the air when big outsider Northern Sun (Wong Chin Chuen) came jumping out of the ground with a sizzling turn of foot.

Yabadabadoo, who inexplicably floundered after taking a bit of a bump 600m out two starts back, was noticeably shortening stride and trainer Desmond Koh’s son of Northern Meteor was lengthening hand over fist, but it proved too little too late in the end.

A head was the narrow advantage Yabadabadoo was able to spare as he scraped home from Northern Sun with Stunning Cat third another 1 ¼ lengths away. The winning time was a moderate 1min 12.33secs for the 1200m on Polytrack.

“He is an up-and-coming horse. He’s pretty smart even if he’s got a few tricks about him,” said Clements.

“He had quite a hard run when he had to go in front. Later, he went to the rails upfront and just kept going when he had every reason to weaken out of it.

“He will definitely go for the first Leg of the 3YO series, even if he is a much better horse on the Polytrack. It’s also great for Joe who has bought a lot of young horses and has had a purple patch with them.”

The Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge kicks off with the Group 3 Singapore Three-Year-Old Sprint (1200m) on March 30 before moving to the Group 2 Singapore Three-Year-Old Classic (1400m) on April 22.

The final Leg is the $1 million Group 1 Singapore Guineas (1600m) which was recently moved to May 26 to be run in one big racing extravaganza with the invitational $1.5 million Group 1 Kranji Mile (1600m) and the $1 million Group 1 Lion City Cup (1200m).

Curatolo was full of praise for his second winner of the night – his 13th overall to consolidate his third place, two behind leader Vlad Duric (suspended but who returns on Sunday) before he begins a two-day suspension next week.

“I was happy to lead on him as he was quite relaxed upfront. He was very steady in his action,” said Curatolo.

“At the top of the straight, he opened up by two lengths and did it pretty easy to the wire, even if there was pressure coming on the outside.

“I’m delighted with the way things are going for me. I will have a good shot at it all the time.”

With that third win in five outings, Yabadabadoo has now amassed around $140,000 in prizemoney for Singh.