Helios Express looks certain to be the one to beat in next month’s Classic Mile after producing a scintillating performance to win the Class Two Butterfly Handicap (1,600m) at Sha Tin on Sunday.

With the first leg of the four-year-old series less than a month away, John Size’s runner rocketed to the top of the list of contenders by shooting clear of his rivals in the straight under Hugh Bowman and winning by an easy two and three-quarter lengths over outsider Spirited Express.

Bowman had high hopes heading into the race, declaring he’d “be surprised if he doesn’t put his hand up to say he’s a significant player”, and the Australian was pleased to have been proved right.

“This horse excites me,” Bowman said. “I just sat on him in the one trial recently over 1,200m on the dirt and he didn’t quite give me the feel he gave me today, but the writing was on the wall. He’s got an excellent record and John has looked after him nicely.

“There’s a sense of timing about him for the Classic Mile next month. He’s an exciting horse.”

Champion trainer Size has won three of the past eight Classic Miles with Sun Jewellery (2016), Nothingilikemore (2018) and Excellent Proposal (2021) and he was pleased to see Helios Express settle well in advance of taking in some of the city’s most prestigious races in the coming months.

“I didn’t get a perfect view of the race but it looked like he settled very nicely in a slow-run race,” Size said.

“Admittedly he had plenty of cover, but Hugh got him to comply. I think, from what I could see, he’s just been too quick for them under those circumstances. You’re not going to get that every day but he got it today and at least we know he can do that, so that’s a big deal.”

The swagger shown by Helios Express in his victory suggests he is likely to be this season’s first four-year-old to hit a rating of 100 when his new mark is released on Monday and Size gives the sense that he is excited by what his charge might go on to achieve.

“You’ve got to have some quality to win the big races and that’s what the ratings are about,” Size said.

“They tell you the ones who have got the class, so it’s a good guide as to who the contenders will be.

Helios can take the Express route to Classic Mile: ‘He gave me a very good feel’

“He’ll go straight to the Classic Mile, I won’t run him again. I don’t think that’s necessary as he’s a fairly light horse and the Derby is a long way away. If we’ve got aspirations to go there, I don’t want to tax him too much. He’s got the figures already.”

After the earlier success of Fast Buck, Helios Express’ win took Size to 22 victories for the season and into the top five in the premiership, albeit still 19 adrift of runaway leader Pierre Ng Pang-chi.

“After a couple of big seasons we’ve got to take a step backwards, a little bit of correction, and hopefully I can get in some sort of rhythm going forward,” Size said.