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Promising three-year-old Big Hearted looks all poised to keep up the head of steam gathered from last year’s tailend towards his first 2020 contest this Saturday.

Raced by the newly-crowned champion owner, the Falcon Racing No 7 Stable, Big Hearted  is bound to carry the short-priced favourite mantle in the $50,000 Class 4 Division 1 race over 1200m on Polytrack.

One of the juvenile rising stars in 2019 (two wins, both on Polytrack, and a brave fifth in the Group 2 Aushorse Golden Horseshoe), the son of Hallowed Crown kept up his upward spiral with two seconds to his two-year-old nemesis Inferno – including one in the Group 3 Saas Fee Stakes (1200m) - and a last-start win in a Class 4 race over 1400m on November 22 at his new three-year-old campaign.

While that third victory from the Michael Clements-trained gelding was widely expected, it was the way he toughed it out from a wide path around the second turn that showed his name was well-earned.

"His last win was full of merit. I was impressed with the way he did it by coming out wide and finishing off strongly," said the Zimbabwean-born conditioner who was runner-up to Mark Walker in the trainer's log last year, his highest finish in his 21 years in Singapore.

"The way the race panned out was not ideal, but he was still very impressive and has come out of the race good."

Clements said the small Christmas break has done Big Hearted a power of good, and is looking forward to his 2020 debut as a guide towards his main goal – the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge, which incidentally, has been shifted to a later time slot with the Group 3 Singapore Three-Year-Old Sprint (1200m) the kickoff point on June 13.

"That last win has really brought him on, but he's now at the top of Class 4 and that's why we put Simon Kok (Wei Hoong) on to get a two-kilo claim," said Clements.

"The horse is well and as the 3YO series is still some way off, he may have another start and then go for a freshen-up prior to the series.

"That first race will give us a good gauge where he is at."

Clements hopes to see Big Hearted not only fill into the big shoes left by stablemate Top Knight, a leading contender for the title of 3YO kingpin at the upcoming Racing Appreciation Awards 2019 on February 6, but also continue his Thai owners' growth as a leading outfit at Kranji.

"Krit Chisatteni and Falcon Racing deserves the title. They have been investing in a lot of quality horses," he said.

"Most of them are still a bunch of young horses and have started off very well. They have quite a bright future ahead of them, for example horses like Saturday, On Line, Quarter Back."

With a first 2020 winner already on the board at the season opener on Wednesday, Royal Pavilion, Clements' team has clearly not loafed around during the break.

It is an awesome squad which would give any trainer lofty designs, but the typically cool, calm and collected veteran expat trainer was not getting ahead of himself.

"We have the quality of horses to fight for the title, but it's not something we can set out to achieve," he said.

"Of course, it would be great if we can win it (for the first time), but we just need to train as many winners as possible first.

"This year, we have the chance to have Louis-Philippe Beuzelin on our team. This is the first time we've had a jockey who is working closely with us, but I told Louis he just needs to steer clear of suspensions (laughs).

"Of course, I will also use other jockeys available and it's great we can also rely on riders like Vlad Duric, Michael Rodd, etc.

"At the end of the day, we need to have the right horses. As long as they stay sound, we should have another good season."