Beuzelin, Celavi back together

Jockey Louis-Philippe Beuzelin is one happy man - he is reunited with one of his favourite horses at Kranji tomorrow.

It will be in the main draw on the 12-race programme, the $85,000 Class 2 sprint over the Polytrack 1,100m in Race 8 (3.30pm).

His mount, the prolific sprinter Celavi, looks hard to beat with the sizzling form that she is in.

The speedy Michael Clements-trained mare was awesome when winning her trial.

She covered the Poly 1,000m in a blistering 58.19sec, just 0.49sec outside the course record set by Nova Swiss in 2017.

It will take a really good horse to beat the Celavi Stable-owned mare and Beuzelin certainly knows it. After all, he was the pilot in that trial.

"I have to say I was very impressed by her barrier trial last week. As usual, I never asked her to do too much and I was surprised when she ran time ," he said.

"She's a mare who always gives 200 per cent of herself on the track. She puts in all her heart out there, she's an extremely generous mare, and one key to her is you shouldn't fight her."

Beuzelin knows Celavi like the back of his hand, He rode the horse in her first seven starts for three wins, a second and a third.

Incidentally, the speedy mare was the Frenchman's first winner for Clements. That was on Oct 4, 2019, when Celavi made a dream debut in a Restricted Maiden event over the Poly 1,000m.

He also partnered the five-year-old Australian-bred in the $300,000 Group 1 Lion City Cup over 1,200m but beat only one home, after hounding the leader.

Celavi won her last two starts, but Beuzelin could not ride as he was serving a suspension. Mohd Zaki, the noted catch-me-if-you-can jockey, was the beneficiary.

"I was happy for the mare, and for Zaki, even if the second win was not as hard to cop as she had 50kg, a weight I couldn't make, anyway," said Beuzelin.

"The reason seeing her win really warmed the cockles of my heart was because I've been part of her career every step of the way.

"I've won three times on her, including two in a row, and after she had an incident (bled) in trackwork last year, it was such a thrill to see her win again.

"Like I've always told Michael, together with Heartening Flyer, she is my favourite horse at the stable. She was my first winner for Michael and became the starting point of our association.

"I remember how I still stuck with her, choosing her over any other horse in the Lion City Cup, even though I know she hates grass and had no chance.

"Michael didn't have any other horse for me in the race, but I've been with her from Day 1 and I just couldn't let her down."

Celavi won all her five races from go to whoa, but there is anticipated speed tomorrow with a few rivals also having plenty of toes.

But Beuzelin is not too concerned. He is convinced the once one-dimensional fireball has somewhat mellowed.

"Michael and I decided to change her training since the incident," he said.

"She was so giving and spent so much of her energy, but she can keep something up her sleeve now. She doesn't necessarily have to lead this Sunday.

"There'll be an abundance of speed from horses like Excelling and Webster. It would be wiser to take a drop, but if she lands in front, so be it."

Clements will also be keeping an open mind how the speedmap will unfold when the gates crash open.

"She'll be up in class to some degree, but she'll certainly be up to the mark," said Singapore's reigning champion trainer.

"There's a bit more speed in the race, at least from what it shows on paper. This is a stronger race and it looks like there'll be more speed on.

"She does like to go forward, that's her style. She'll be up there or she'll just be behind the leaders."

From Gate 3 and a handy 53.5kg, it looks like Celavi should justify her red-hot favourite's tag.