A thankful Tim Fitzsimmons gave kudos to his stable staff following the yard’s early treble in the first four races of the 11-race programme on Saturday.

The Australian handler had been away in home isolation for a week after testing positive to COVID-19, left with no other choice but to delegate the day-to-day operations to his personnel headed by stable supervisor Jaya.

The boss might not have been at the helm, but it was business as usual for the in-form yard after Fireworks, The Bullet and Born To Win took out Race 1, 2 and 4 respectively. They were all favourites and were ridden by Manoel Nunes.

"I was off the whole week with Covid, and left everything to my staff and their leader Jaya. A big thank you to them," said Fitzsimmons.

"Without them, I couldn't have come up with the big day we had today. Of the three, I thought the first two (Fireworks and The Bullet) were my best chances, and I was spot-on, it was a great start to the day.

"Born To Win  was at his first run for me. Mr Chua (owner) rang me up one day and gave me the horse to train.

"I don't know the horse, but he trialled well a couple of weeks ago. He was the odds-on favourite ($9), which is crazy, but he won, too!

"Nunes and I continue on our merry way together. It's great."

The three-time Singapore champion jockey has suddenly put a space between him and the rest with that big haul. Long time neck and neck with Danny Beasley, the Brazilian ace has suddenly pulled away to 18 winners, four clear of the Australian.

All three wins were typical textbook rides from the comeback hoop (back after a four-year hiatus), with Born To Win's in the $30,000 Class 5 race over 1600m arguably the best reflection of his winning flair.

Midfield in a rails-hugging spot throughout, the former Leslie Khoo-trained ward crept up to be right behind the leaders into the home straight before pouncing though a gap to explode away to a commanding lead.

Stablemate Don De La Vega  (Jake Bayliss) worked home steadily, cutting the margin down to three-quarter length but Nunes had already sat up from a long way out.

Endless (Wong Chin Chuen) ran third another three lengths away. The winning time was 1min 37.24secs for the 1600m on the Short Course.

"He won easy. The good gate (two) helped," said Nunes of the Haradasun six-year-old who was chalking up his fifth career win.

"He had a lovely run and I had him comfortable everywhere, he also went for the gap by himself. I eased him up as I knew I had the race won."

The first two Fitzsimmons-Nunes winning combinations came for two Buffalo Stable-owned gallopers, Fireworks  ($8) and newcomer The Bullet  ($8).

Nunes said Fireworks, who drew two like Born To Win, also had the handy alley to thank for at his gutsy win in the opener, the $30,000 Class 5 Division 1 race over 1400m.

"Fireworks won a good race at his last start. He jumped from a good barrier today, and that helped," he said.

Tracking leader Summer Wind (Mohd Zaki) from the start, the Ekraar six-year-old needed no second invitation when the former rolled off the fence upon cornering. The previous five-time winner charged through the gap to go and defeat Summer Wind by a neck with Atlas (Jerlyn Seow Poh Hui) third another 1 ¼ lengths away.

The winning time was 1min 23.5secs for the 1400m on the Short Course.

A three-year-old by Deep Field, The Bullet, who was backed down to $9 favouritism at his Kranji debut, was drawn off in barrier No 5 in the $75,000 Restricted Maiden race over 1000m, but after making good use of his abundance of speed, was able to come across to settle onto the plastic.

The well-backed Istataba (Bayliss) did rattle home from the rear, but still looked a little green in his execution, taking second place 1 ¼ lengths away with Silent Is Gold (Wong Chin Chuen) third another short head away. The Bullet ran the Polytrack speed dash in 59.44secs.

"The Bullet still has a lot to learn. He was nervous behind the barriers, he's still green," said Nunes.

"Even when he hit the front, he was laying out and stopped, as he had nothing to guide him. He was lost.

"But this horse can gallop, and I saw that in his work and trials. The only concern was the barrier.

"He did a few things wrong today, but he was quite professional and can only improve with that first run under the belt."

Fitzsimmons highlighted that The Bullet was the first horse he shares with the Buffalo Stable.

"I bought him from the Inglis Digital sale, and took 20% in him and Buffalo has the rest. It's the first horse I share with them," said Fitzsimmons.

"We had a few issues with him at the barriers, we had to put the blindfold on and (chief starter) Damien Kinninmont helped me by putting a lot of work in him, and I thank him for that.

"The plan today was to go to the front, and he held on well, even if he was a bit wayward in the straight.

"As for Fireworks, he's a good honest Class 5 horse, and things went his way today."

In 25 starts, Fireworks has now established a record of five wins and four placings from 25 starts for stakes earnings under the $120,000 mark for the Buffalo Stable of Peter Lee.