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The Stephen Crutchley-trained Silo showed why he would be more than competitive on the lucrative Hong Kong circuit after he took out the $70,000 Class 3 race (1400m) in fashion on Saturday.

This was the three-year-old star's last start in Singapore before heading to his new home in late February. He was sent out as the $8 odds-on favourite and did not disappoint at his farewell run for fans in Singapore.

But the win was not handed to him on a silver platter either. Ridden by jockey Manoel Nunes, Makin put up a very good fight late in a race going to script in the earlier stages.

On jumping, the top four horses in the betting made the running, with Red Dot (Clyde Leck) leading while Silo (Vlad Duric) took a sit in clean air behind the speedster.

Makin, who sat on the rails, and Trident (Ryan Curatolo) both stalked the favourite, and it was a race in four leading into the straight.

Things got interesting at the 450m when a tiring Red Dot laid out towards Silo. Nunes took the opportunity to make what looked like a winning move on Makin by kicking clear on the rails and putting a length on his rivals at the 300m.

Duric did not panic but under his hard riding, Silo was making up ground steadily before levelling up with Makin in the final 150m.

With no other horses in the winning mix, Duric had the luxury of easing down late when Silo had the measure of the gamed Makin over the final 100m, with the one-and-a-quarter length win a perfect exclamation mark to the end of his Singapore chapter.

The Donna Logan-trained Trident filled the minor placing another two-and-a-quarter lengths back in third. The winning time was 1 min 21.15secs for the 1400m on the Long Course.

Crutchley was pleased to send Silo off on a winning note and is looking forward to what the future holds for the National Defense colt.

"He put on a good show today," said the New Zealander who was the last among 18 trainers to welcome his first winner in 2024.

"I was really happy with him going into the race and knew he would be hard to beat, but still nice to see him get the job done.

"I wasn't concerned when the other horse (Makin) kicked in the straight as Vlad knew what he had under him.

"He's (Duric) such a good rider. He knew Silo had plenty more to offer and let the other horse go. He waited until he had to lengthen him out and picked them up quickly when he pushed the button.

"He (Silo) showed today that the 1400m is a really good distance for him. He had excuses (rider dropped whip) when he got beat the other time he raced over this trip (in a Novice race on 11 November).

"And the time they ran that day (1 min 21.63 secs) was good enough to win at this level.

"He's won his last three (races), is fit and happy, and I really think he will give a good account of himself in Hong Kong for (trainer) Mark (Newnham)."

But while Crutchley has now legged a jockey up on Silo  for the last time, the he still has a few boxes to tick for connections.

"That run should have taken the edge off him (Silo)," he explained.

"So we change his feed to a spelling mix and try to keep him settled as he prepares for isolation before travelling.

"He will be vetted for Hong Kong and we'll walk him to keep him happy. My job now is to get him to Hong Kong safe and sound.

"The break will do him good as he still has some growing to do. I think you will see a bigger and stronger horse when he races in Hong Kong."

Duric agreed with Crutchley that Silo has a promising future in Hong Kong.

"He's (Silo) a ripper and has some upsides," said the four-time Singapore champion jockey, who brought up a race-to-race double after Pacific MV ($22) won the last race on the card; a $50,000 Class 4 Division 2 race over 1100m.

"I rode him out of his comfort zone today as I wanted to take bad luck out of the equation. He is better with a sit, so I had to niggle him today, but he was the best horse in the race.

"He's agile, has a great turn of foot and I think he will measure up in Hong Kong."

Silo's third win on the trot was his fourth from eight starts in Singapore. Coupled with three seconds and one third, his total earnings in Singapore for the Toast Trusts & Silo Stable has now gone past the $180,000 mark.