Top Practitioner can continue master French mentor Patrick Biancone's return to form by taking the seventh event at Sha Tin this afternoon. Biancone revealed after Wednesday's New Year's Day double that most of his stable had been troubled by a virus earlier in the season, hence his slow start to the campaign. That virus has now lifted and when Biancone hits form, as he now appears to have done with a recent treble to go with that double, he hits form with a vengeance. Top Practitioner has started twice for Biancone and the improvement from race one to race two was marked. It wasn't just a case of him running better either, it appears to be a question of belief, of confidence. When he ran third to We Know When and Startrice first time out this season, he didn't seem to relish the scrap with Startrice for the quinella spot. But he then came out and ran a really good second to Good Fortune over 1,800 metres, the pair pulling three lengths clear of their rivals which is usually a sign of good form and, more importantly, Top Practitioner looked as if he enjoyed the battle. He fought tooth and nail for victory but was just beaten by a better horse, who enjoyed a perfect run throughout, on the day. And since then there has been a positive swagger about the way Top Practitioner has conducted himself in the mornings. It is as if he now believes in himself and this is probably because he has never been as fit as Biancone now has him. Top Practitioner looks to have Smart Kid to beat. It is very hard to predict what kind of price Top Practitioner will be as he could be subject to some serious roll-up money as Biancone and his jockey, Eric Legrix, have a heap of chances prior to the seventh event, most notably Tequila Pop in the first and the exciting newcomer Masterkova in the second. If Top Practitioner is too short in the win pool, say under 3.5-1, it is best to look to the quinella pool. And Smart Kid is the one. He should appreciate the move up to a mile and comes into the race with rock solid form. He looked to be slightly unlucky in running last weekend when shuffled back early in the race eventually won by Compulsory. Admittedly, Smart Kid didn't exactly zip when asked the question, but he could be a lot more effective over the extra 200 metres.
