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Flying sprinter Celavi should be ripping some arms off in trackwork as she is known for, especially after a two-month freshen-up, but trainer Michael Clements’ eye for detail has not missed a few ever so subtle signs the jets might have cooled off a tad.

Alarm bells are not ringing yet, as the Fighting Sun mare has still been ticking all the boxes at her workouts under regular partner Louis-Philippe Beuzelin leading up to her comeback this Saturday, the $85,000 Class 2 (1100m), but horses are creatures of habit. The slightest deviation in their mannerism or pattern, be it a racing trait or quirk, is diligently noted down in the logbook by any trainer worth his salt.

For example, trainer Daniel Meagher always says the day his star miler Lim's Lightning stops his trademark pull-up way down the backstraight, he'd get worried.

Horses are not machines that fire on all cylinders eternally, or there's a fountain of youth they go dipping in. There is unfortunately a tipping point, but in Celavi's case, Clements is still a half-full glass man until proven otherwise.

At five and bang on track towards a first feature race milestone, the Group 3 Merlion Trophy (1100m) on November 27, the Polytrack specialist (all six wins between 1000m and 1200m are on the all-weather) should after all be at the pinnacle of her racing career, but the Singapore champion trainer is not losing sight of the dashboard either.

"Celavi  is doing okay, but I would say she was probably better at her last start condition-wise," said Clements.

"She seems to have settled down and quietened down. As we know she's a mare who was hard on herself before, pretty full on and would rip along in her barrier trials.

"She ran second (to Fame Star) in her barrier trial last week (October 21). It was still good, but perhaps, she has matured after we freshened her up.

"In saying this, she has still maintained her wellness in herself, she still has a good form. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing amiss with her, she's still going well and doing okay.

"But whether this is a sign, there is a possibility, I'm not going to lie. They all change, and I'd like to believe in her case, it's for the better as she's matured and is looking after herself.

"She won't race again until the Merlion Trophy, so Saturday's race will hopefully give us some answers.

"She's coming up in weights as she'll carry three kilos more (56.5kgs), and it's also a stronger race with horses like Fame Star and Kharisma.

"We're still pretty confident she'll run well, but it won't be her own race."

Saturday's speed dash won't be a springboard for just Celavi to get back into the groove. The Zimbabwean-born conditioner is teaming her up with another two comeback horses, Muraahib and Real Success.

Of the two, Real Success is the one who has not faced the starter for the longest time – more than 1 ½ years.

The Reset six-year-old is only sparingly-raced having had only 10 starts under the belt, but showed stacks of ability with three wins (1400m to 1800m) and one second, with one of his most notable performances arguably being his sixth place in the Group 1 Dester Singapore Gold Cup (2000m) in 2019, only around 2 ½ lengths off the winner Mr Clint.

"Real Success is returning from tendon issues. He had potential, but he levelled off a bit when we ran him in the big races," said Clements who has booked Oscar Chavez on the Lucky Stable-owned galloper.

"This race is obviously too short, but he had to kick off somewhere."

On the other hand, the 1100m will be ideal for Muraahib in his new quest to atone from a string of mostly plain runs (which actually ended with a distant unplaced finish to Celavi in a Class 2 1100m race back in June) since landing from trainer Donna Logan in March.

Now raced by Indian medical entrepreneur Kuldeep Singh Rajput under the Gandharvi Stable banner, the Reset seven-year-old did give a glimpse of his old self in four runs for the Kiwi handler, but they were never a patch on his best form when he recorded three wins (1200m-1400m) for Lee Freedman and the Oscar Racing Stable, the last one coming in a Class 2 race over 1200m 12 months ago.

"Muraahib has not been racing to his true ability. We also noticed he hasn't really had any break since he arrived in Singapore," said Clements.

"So, we gave him one, and he's come back in good shape. He's among the well-weighted horses in the race, and Simon (Kok Wei Hoong) will ride him.

"He'll also run in the Merlion Trophy."

Whether Muraahib can finally give Rajput his first taste of success as a relative new owner at Kranji remains to be seen. Should the previously Shadwell-owned galloper not be the one, new blood is on the way.

"Kuldeep has bought a few yearlings in Australia and they are currently in pre-training there. They should be coming to Singapore early next year," said Clements.

"It's all very exciting times for Kuldeep. I think Muraahib will also run better after the break."

As for his own run in the remaining five meetings in the 2021 season, Clements has all but handed the title to arch-rival Mark Walker.

After going neck-to-neck with the New Zealander and three-time Singapore champion trainer in the first two tiers or so of the season, Clements has started to concede ground with a low head count of runners in the last couple of months, and invariably a resulting drop in winners.

"Whilst a lot of my horses have come back, it's fair to say Mark will take the title this year," he said.

"Like I said before, I was expecting a quiet time with horses needing a break, and during that time Mark has kicked some goals.

"It's too late to catch him now. Even if I win races, I can't expect him to stop winning races."