PUNTERS can cash in early at Sha Tin tonight by following the exceptionally well handicapped Jade Signet in the opening event. Trainer Patrick Biancone has burst out of the traps and clearly won the handlers' dash to the season's first bend. He can do little wrong at present and it's been a similar story with his apprentice, the admirable Simon 'Hong Kong' Yim. Two seasons ago it would have been abysmal rather than admirable and in Biancone's own words his claimer found it 'hard to sit on' during his first year or so in the saddle. But no one has worked harder and Yim, once staring forcible retirement from the saddle in the face, has pulled himself up by his own bootstraps and is now very good value for his seven-pound allowance as he has demonstrated with two wins already this season. It is an allowance which could prove critical to Jade Signet's chance for while Jade Signet is very well treated from a pure ratings point of view, he comes into this lowly contest with a fairly hefty 131 pounds because Biancone has astutely taken the voluntary demotion into Class Six. He's a speedy but not particularly big horse and the seven pounds off his back will help tremendously. So, too, will the switch to the short straight as it should take some of the pressure off those horses with a front-running bent. From a handicapping point of view he is simply thrown in on two runs from last season. When a horse runs to a rating once, it can be a fluke and never repeated but twice tends to suggest the basic ability is there. Jade Signet's trackwork leading into tonight's Class Six event indicates that Biancone has him primed to rediscover that form from last season which saw him win at the first time of asking and then run a length second to Humdinger in a Class Four 1,235-metre contest. On both occasions he ran to a mark of around 40, according to my private handicap, but some lacklustre efforts since then have seen him plummet down the ratings scale to 22 at the bottom of Class Five. A measure of potentially how well treated he is comes from the fact that Humdinger progressed to score again while Jade Signet had subsequent scorers Cruise Missile, Plenty Cash and Win Again behind him in that Valley event. As for his work, Jade Signet was noted working better than Got It Made who was a winning griffin for Biancone last season. Jade Signet also goes well fresh, as he showed when winning for Ivan Allan at the first time of asking last season. He is also a course and distance winner over Sha Tin's 1,400 metres. So all in all, there is plenty going for Jade Signet. He's very well handicapped; his trainer is in top form; his apprentice takes a potentially vital seven pounds off his back and is good value for the claim; he's working well; he goes well fresh and he's a course and distance winner. Sounds too good to be true and the horse who could spoil the party is the Eddie K. C. Lo-trained Fook Win. He's another who has tumbled down the weights, having put in an especially good effort when forcing Gladstonian to a head over a mile at Happy Valley last season. Fook Win's form tapered off after that, though he caught the eye on more than one subsequent occasion. It is the booking of Tony Cruz which catches the eye here as Lo only calls for his services when he feels he has a really good chance. Witness their success together with Never Say Tired in a Class Six event on the opening day. Dolphin appeared to be working much better than a Class Five performer prior to his debut at the last night meeting here. He was duly backed down to 3-1 favouritism only to blow his chance when rearing badly on leaving the stalls. His work hasn't been quite so stylish since but he is worth one more chance in the night's second race, especially as he should be at longer odds after that previous debacle. Jockey Darryll Holland can do little wrong at present. He acquainted himself with Dolphin at a recent barrier trial, in which Dolphin showed no signs of misbehaving in the stalls, and the English ace is likely to ride him with bundles of confidence.
