SHINING Winner is strongly fancied to bounce back to his best form by taking this evening's second event on an enthralling card at Sha Tin. The Geoff Lane-trained Shining Winner can be an infuriating customer as he has mixed his form a bit and has been hard to catch right. But I have him so far clear on my Topspeed figures that his claims are impossible to ignore. He is rated 81 on his best form and he hasn't just run to that figure once, he's run around that adjusted rating (adjusted for tonight's weight) on a few occasions. That figure of 81 also puts him a staggering 10 Topspeed pounds clear of the next highest rated horse in the race - the Neville Begg-trained Diablo. So given Shining Winner is so far clear of his rivals and given he has run to that figure on more than one occasion, he just has to be taken a chance on tonight. What's more he should be at reasonable odds as the general betting public may well have given up on him, especially after two modest last outings. Yet my track spies tell me that Shining Winner's most recent work has been most encouraging and then there is the matter of James Chan's claim. The 81 rating for tonight's nap makes no allowance for Chan's claim and, while it is recognised that apprentices are given a claim because they are markedly inferior riders to their senior counterparts, Chan has come to the attention of a number of good judges. They tell me that he is value for his seven-pound allowance and, theoretically, Shining Winner could come out on a Topspeed rating of 83 if you accept that Chan's talents equate more to a five-pound than a seven-pound claimer. Diablo is another who has been hard to catch right, but his last run was too bad to be true and is best forgotten. Prior to that he had been gradually running in to form and it is significant that the brilliant French jockey, Eric Saint-Martin, has been booked by Begg to replace the inexperienced apprentice Keith Kwok who rode him last time out. Golden Era is the third top-rated. Forget his last run as he was exceptionally wide the whole way and now has Damien Oliver replacing Andy Ko. Should Shining Winner, Diablo and Golden Era combine to run the quinella then punters can look forward to a really bumper payout. And lob they can as this is by no means a competitive event.
