NEXT UP

A regular finisher in the money (seven placings in 10 starts) at his previous Sydney base when known as Royal Captain under Rosehill trainer Gerald Ryan's care, the Australian-bred Lonhro four-year-old already showed his wares at his Kranji debut in an Open Maiden race over 6 f on November 22 when he closed down for second to Perfect.

Unsurprisingly sent out as a short-priced $7 favourite on the strength of that run second-up, Afalonhro – now prepared by three-time Singapore champion trainer Mark Walker for the Omni Stable – never gave his backers any anxious moments throughout the six-furlong spin.

Held together by Vlad Duric (also the freshly-minted three-time Singapore champion jockey) in midfield, Afalonhro  was quite clearly a cut above when he was given his head at the top of the straight.

With a few shakes of the rein, the near-black gelding skipped clear to an unassailable lead down the Polytrack straight before being eased down to a five-and-a-half length victory.

Behind, the battle for the minors raged with Geb Warrior (A'Isisuhairi Kasim) and My Money (Shafrizal Saleh) unable to be split in second place. Invisible (Simon Kok Wei Hoong) fought on as well but had to settle for fourth place another short head away.

Afalonhro clocked 1min 13.76secs for the 6 f on the Polytrack.

"He looked a good thing on paper," said Walker who grabbed a third Singapore champion title on 73 winners last year.

"He was unlucky at his first start when he was checked out of the barriers. He had to make up ground on the Long Course, which was not easy.

"He's a big scopey sort of horse and can go through his grades. When we bought him, he was a four-year-old colt and he was gelded in Sydney.

"Like many horses who are gelded, they can grow a leg after the surgery."

Duric, who, similarly to Walker, only pulled away from the pack in the fourth quarter of the 2019 season, would probably hope the new campaign will be as easy as that first 2020 salvo.

"I just wanted to keep his momentum and keep him out of trouble," said the Australian jockey.

"He carried 59kgs while the others had only 50kgs on their backs and he's not really big. I had to be mindful of all that.

"He was impressive enough, but he still pricked his ears and had a look around. There is still some improvement to come out of him."