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Ace Sovereign and Super Atas will this Saturday kickstart what may well unfold as a very busy 3YO campaign for trainer Tim Fitzsimmons this year.

Long held in abeyance due to the more prudent replanning and readjustment of racing in these COVID-19 times of uncertainty, the calendar of racing fixtures and feature races from April was finally unveiled this week.

While race meetings will be bumped up to 48 meetings with 11 instead of 10 races staged per meeting for the FY2021/2022 starting from April 1, Group events were, however, cut back to only 10 – all the marquee Group 1s stay except for the Singapore Guineas, though.

Except for the iconic Singapore Gold Cup and Kranji Mile, which were still maintained with purses of $1 million each, prizemoney for the other feature races was reduced.

On the other hand, prizemoney for Class races remains unchanged, much to the delight of industry participants given they make up the "bread-and-butter" races at Kranji.

Like all trainers, Fitzsimmons was above all glad and relieved he can now take the guesswork out of the equation as far as training programme goes for the remaining 2021 season, especially regarding his big team of three-year-olds, recently swollen further with the arrival, among others, of Group 3 Singapore Golden Horseshoe winner Boomba and Debt Collector's half-brother Shylock from former boss Cliff Brown, who is returning to Australia this month.

While the traditional 3YO finale, the Singapore Guineas (1600m) has been scrapped, the first and second Legs of the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge, the Group 3 Singapore Three-Year-Old Sprint (1200m) and Group 2 Singapore Three-Year-Old Classic (1400m) are still on, and will be held on June 27 and July 18 respectively.

"I've got a lot of three-year-olds that were bought for the 3YO races. I'm glad we now know when those races will be run," said Fitzsimmons who was granted his trainer's licence at the end of 2019, after working as assistant-trainer to Brown from Day 1 in 2008.

"I've got two of them running tomorrow, Ace Sovereign (x Darci Brahma) and Super Atas (x Charm Spirit), both in the Restricted Maiden race (over the Polytrack mile). They are both being aimed at the 3YO series.

"Unfortunately, there isn't any Singapore Guineas this year, which is a shame as they're both milers.

"I've always seen the two as late three-year-olds and early four-year-olds who will hopefully step up later in the year, especially Ace Sovereign who arrived as a late two-year-old in October (2019). He took a bit of time.

"He had a couple of luckless runs early, he was trapped wide, they went at a relentless speed, but he still ran on well.

"He had five weeks off after the Singapore Golden Horseshoe (unplaced), and the way he ran on in a Novice race (February 20) first-up was very encouraging.

"Super Atas had just the one run last year, but he was really immature. He had a long break, he had six weeks off, but he is still not 100% there.

"He will need more time to mature, but I think he'll become a dead-set 1800m horse. His last run (Restricted Maiden over 1400m on January 30) with blinkers on was encouraging (fourth to Prosperous Return), the blinkers kept him more focused.

"He doesn't have a turn of foot, he's an on-pace horse. He has drawn 10, so he will have to push forward and not come from behind."

Fitzsimmons has booked John Powell on Ace Sovereign and Marc Lerner on Super Atas.

"JP rides a lot for the owner of Ace Sovereign, they're golf buddies," said Fitzsimmons.

"I booked Marc on Super Atas as he does quite a bit of riding for me now. He gets free rein and first option on rides."

The two stablemates had their respective race-riders in the saddle at their last hit-outs on Tuesday.

"They both galloped. Both JP and Marc were happy with their work," said Fitzsimmons.

"Tomorrow's runs will give me a few more answers heading towards the 3YO races."

No sooner has the Australian handler got a guide on this duo on Saturday that he will be training his binoculars onto another group of three-year-olds bursting at the barn doors.

"Boomba  just came a week ago. Obviously, he came to me in great order as you would expect," he said.

"He'll probably trial next Thursday. He will have two trials before he races again.

"There is a Class 4 race over 1200m on Polytrack on March 27, but we have asked for the race to be changed to turf. We're still waiting for a reply; if the Polytrack race is still on, then we'll wait for another race for him.

"We still have some time. He's only rated 61, so he can still run in Class 4 and we can then take him through his grades.

"Relentless trialled really impressively last week. He has come back a lot stronger, a lot better.

"He will trial again next week and there is a Class 4 race over 1200m on Polytrack on March 20 that I have found for him."

The son of Hallowed Crown is remembered as the last 2020 winner that no-one saw. It bucketed down during the Class 4 race over 1400m on December 27 with visibility almost nil.

"He's a versatile horse. He handles both the dry and wet very well," said Fitzsimmons of the gelding raced by the Arexevan Stable.

"I also have Shylock, Debt Collector's half-brother (both out of Prompt Payment) who will run in a Restricted Maiden race on March 20 as well.

"Speaking of half-brothers, I also have a half-brother of (Brown's 2019 Singapore champion four-year-old mare) What's New (x Casino Prince), Den Of Thieves (x El Roca), they're both out of Pussycat Dream. He's also from Cliff and is also a three-year-old.

"I'm very grateful to Cliff for having chosen me to take over most of his horses, around 20. On one hand, I wish Cliff didn't leave, but on the other, he has given me a big push with the horses he has sent me.

"I've not had it easy since I got my licence, but I think I can look forward to better things to come this season."

At the helm of fairly small boutique teams since he joined the Kranji training ranks in 2019, Fitzsimmons saddled his first winner Mega Gold only last year (February 21, 2020) to end the season on five winners, but he has been flying this year, having already won four races from only 24 runners to sit in eighth spot on the Singapore trainer's premiership.