Kinane holds key in two legs of TT
Irish ace Mick Kinane looks to hold the key to tomorrow night's Happy Valley Triple Trio.
Kinane, riding at his last meeting before returning for the summer Flat season in Ireland and England, appears to have a top chance on the Bruce Hutchison-trained Brilliant Leader in the third event which opens the TT as well as on Derek Cruz's Fame And Wealth in the fourth.
Brilliant Leader should relish racing against ordinary Class Five company, especially now that he's blinkered for the first time.
Hutchison trialled him in blinkers down the 1,000-metre chute last Tuesday morning and Brilliant Leader responded by hitting the line hard.
The balance of Brilliant Leader's form also gives him a very strong chance of winning, let alone running into the placings. He looks an ideal banker.
Victory Way, down at the bottom of the weights for this mile event, is worth definite TT consideration.
He put in a much improved run last time when blinkered for the first time and they could just be the answer.
Admittedly he did get a charmed run along the rail but his effort in the same trial session last Tuesday tended to suggest that he's now progressing along the right lines.
Ascot Hero is consistent and has place claims as does Popular Acclaim though the latter is not genuine. Of the others, Diamond King trialled well for his new handler Alex Wong Yu-on last week.
It would be somewhat of a surprise if Wong can improve on Diamond King's previous trainer David Hayes but you never know with these stable changes and Diamond King is the speedy type to take up a position at the Valley and go well for his seven-pound claimer, Henry K. C. Tsang.
Sun's Treasure didn't get a clear run last time and is a good outsider.
Fame And Wealth ran well on debut at the Valley and should give a very good account of himself in the fourth, the TT's middle leg.
He's always worked and trialled well and has come out of that debut run appearing to go better than ever.
He's just the nippy, fluent sort to naturally take to the Valley and should be very hard to keep out of the frame, especially with Kinane doing the steering.
Handover featured prominently in dispatches from last Tuesday's trial session and looks ready to run well on his belated reappearance for the Hutchison camp.
Plenty Win has been much improved on each of his past two starts and looks best of the others.
His apprentice, the 10-pound claimer, C. T. Cheng, is also getting his act together and starting to look value for his claim. That 10 pounds off Plenty Win's back looks extremely handy in terms of the TT.
Harvard had a charmed rails run when placed last time out while watch out for an improved effort from Express Lot who has worked well since his debut.
Cavalo didn't beat much last time but he can race up near the speed and that is going to be very important all night as the rail is out to the C+3 position.
He looks as good a banker as any in the sixth which concludes the TT especially as he's worked better than ever since his last-start win where the move up to 1,800 metres seemed to be right up his street.
Cheers Again goes well at the Valley as does Jewellery Star though the worry regarding the latter is that he may have just started to lose his good early season form.
In contrast Great Intent is starting to come right while So Great appeals as well handicapped.
Take Off is another likely to be racing near the speed but he may be better at a mile than in this contest.
