Helmet keeps the lid on in jump-out

By Robert Windmill

Three-time Group One winner Helmet will have an official trial next month before the Dubai-bound colt kicks off his autumn campaign at Flemington.

The baldy faced chestnut barely blew away the cobwebs when he casually went around in a jump-out at Flemington on Friday.

Ridden by Kerrin McEvoy, the Peter Snowden-trained star contested one of the fastest jump-outs of the morning but didn't get a chance to go through his gears, finishing in a bunch of horses without extending himself.

"It was just a quiet one today," Darley's Melbourne foreman Paul Snowden said.

"He wasn't out to do much. It was more like a half mile working gallop.

"It was effortless for him and he did it within himself, as easy as."

Snowden said Helmet would trial officially under lights at Cranbourne on February 7 before he kicks off his autumn campaign in the CS Hayes Stakes (1400m) on February 18 ahead of the Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington on March 3.

He is scheduled to race at Dubai's World Cup meeting on March 31 along with his even more celebrated stablemate Sepoy.

After riding Helmet on Friday, McEvoy tweeted "it was good to get back aboard the big beast".

Snowden said Helmet was a more complete horse than in the spring when he won the Caulfield Guineas before finishing eighth in the Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley on October 22 .

As a two-year-old Helmet showed his brilliance with Group One wins in the AJC Sires' Produce Stakes (1400m) and the Champagne Stakes (1600m).

"He's grown a little since the spring and is a much more mature horse now," Snowden said.

"He's bigger and he's stronger."

© Australian Associated Press Pty Limited (AAP) 2012

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