The new-season battle of the sophomore trainers became even more exciting at Sha Tin with Danny Shum Chap-shing replying to the opening salvo of Caspar Fownes with a splendid double that could so easily have been a four-timer.
Shum, the long-time assistant to retired training genius Ivan Allan, captured the fifth event with Determination in his first run since transferring from his former boss. And he then rained on the hopes of rival trainers Tony Cruz (Floral Dynamite) and David Ferraris (Vengeance of Rain) by taking the final event with giant racer Asali.
Shum was also at the runners-up stall on two occasions, with Horse Around (Howard Cheng Yue-tin) in the seventh event and Lucky King (Glyn Schofield) in the eighth.
Despite having just bounded to the early lead in the trainers' premiership, with five winners and five seconds, the perfectionist in Shum shone through last night when he confessed to bouts of sleeplessness over the defeat of Town of Fionn in last week's Chief Executive's Cup.
'If Town of Fionn had won, the week would have been perfect,' Shum said. 'I keep looking back at that replay and Paddy Payne's ride on The Duke was quite incredible. From a wide barrier, Town of Fionn was caught three deep and that was the difference.'
Back in present time, Shum provided reflected glory to Allan for the condition in which Determination arrived at his yard back in June.
'The boss sent him to me in lovely condition,' Shum said. 'I have had the benefit of the care he took with the horse - he was very healthy and very sound. Determination came from England and took a while to acclimatise. He's better now than he was last season. That's why he was up significantly in body weight. He's so much stronger now.'