“The whole time he has been here he hasn’t put a foot wrong,” said Freedman. “To overcome that and still come out and win, I think that proves he has a future here.”

Beasley said Slither had been standing in the stalls “like a lamb” and couldn’t believe it when he missed the start.

“In all his trials he hadn’t shown he was capable of doing anything like that at all,” said Beasley. “I had a good look through his form back in Australia and there was no mention of anything to say he was bad at the barriers.

“Before the race I thought he had six lengths on them. After missing it by five lengths and coming out and win by a length, he hasn’t let me down.

“But it’s something I don’t want him to put me through again.”

Freedman said Slither would improve when he’s stepped up a little further in ground.

“His best form back in Melbourne was when he was stepped up in ground,” said Freedman. “I think up to a mile here would be ideal for him.

“He did have only mid-winter form back home, but Ralph Horowitz does a bit of poking around for me and suggested this might be a nice horse for up here.

“After negotiating for several weeks we were able to get him up here and he’s done his part with a good win.”

Slither had won two of his 11 starts in Melbourne before heading to Singapore and is owned by the Mummify Stable.

Freedman said there was a number of first time owners in the gelding and was delighted to get them their first victory.

Slither is a four-year-old by Golden Snake from the Zedrich mare Ziegler and had won just on A$52,000 in prizemoney before his arrival in Singapore.