Rookie Shum loaded with firepower for step into the limelight

Lessons learned under master trainer Ivan Allan will be put to the test as Danny Shum Chap-shing steps out under his own banner this season, but a stampede of owners has given him every chance to prove his mettle.

Shum, 42, has been by far the best supported of the season's three new trainers and will almost have the 'house full' sign up when he kicks off on Sunday.

'I will have around 55 horses to start and I have been very lucky to get this kind of support from owners in my first year,' Shum said yesterday.

Stepping out on his own after eight years with Allan, during which he played a leading role in the successes of world champion Fairy King Prawn, evergreen Indigenous and more recently the Derby and Hong Kong Mile winner Olympic Express, Shum is well aware that anything he has done before will not count for much if his own results don't happen.

On Sunday, he took out two of the turf trials at the Pre-Season Carnival and is trying to have his horses forward enough to make an early mark. 'I'm hoping to have four runners on the first day and would love to win a race,' he said. 'You know how Hong Kong is - it can be a funny place. It's important to get a quick win, whether you're a jockey or a trainer.

'I don't have any particular figure I'm aiming at for the season, but I'll just be trying to win as many races as I can and right from the first meeting.'

Many casual observers figured Shum might receive a few horses from his old boss, but there will be only one former Allan horse in his yard - the middle-grade sprinter Well Best.