Lynx can pounce for the in-form combination of Lawrie Fownes and Damien Oliver in today's fifth event on ATV Cup day at Sha Tin. The long serving Fownes has his string in tremendous form and another winner - it was so nearly two - on Wednesday night leaves him just five off the lead in the trainers' championship. Oliver, a multiple champion jockey of Melbourne, was seen to great effect in midweek, too, riding a dream of a race to score on Smashing Pumpkin in the last and it was he, on All Happy, who had earlier foiled a Fownes' double. They now team up as Fownes' much-underestimated stable jockey Wendyll Woods is sidelined due to a two-meeting suspension for dropping his hands on the Tony Cruz-trained Fortune World last weekend. And in Lynx, Fownes and Oliver, have a seasoned Class Three handicapper who looks set to take a power of beating. Lynx was in good form earlier in the campaign, scoring on his reappearance at the expense of the not fully wound up Coach Maniac. Since then he hasn't run a bad race without quite managing to get his head in front. Fownes wisely gave him a mid-season break and Lynx has come back from that spell racing better than ever. He put in a particularly creditable effort last time out when just failing to get up to beat Medic Star over 1,400 metres at Sha Tin. Lynx actually ran fourth, despite being beaten just a quarter of a length, but he almost certainly would have won with just a bit more luck in running. He came together with Hercules soon after the gates opened and then had a pretty tough trip throughout having drawn barrier 11 of 14 with the short straight in operation. It is pretty hard to overcome that draw over 1,400 metres on the short course, especially as Lynx is the type of horse who can take a fair bit of winding up before he really hits top gear. This afternoon racing is back to the Old Bend so Lynx can wind up under Oliver's urgings down the full length of the straight. Fownes has also taken the trouble to remove the blinkers and fit Lynx with a visor for the first time. It is remarkable how these gear changes so often pay to follow. Lynx also comes into the race having shaped very fluently on the work tracks. The biggest danger could come from the progressive Multi-Star and the English import My Way. Multi-Star probably needs farther, but his form is hard to fault and Piere Strydom is a significant booking. He replaces the apprentice and that should help Multi-Star considerably.
