Aurora Spirit leads way for TT hunters

A cool pool of $14 million is carried forward for tomorrow night's Triple Trio on Sha Tin's eagerly awaited Grand National card.

As usual, punters are required to nominate the first three, in any order, in races three, four and six in order to scoop the jackpot.

The opening leg is a Class Six 1,400-metre event for which five horses stand out.

Aurora Spirit won in this grade a couple of starts ago when perfectly ridden by Alan Munro along the inside rail.

Nickels King is very well treated on any number of recent runs and was back to his best when third to Everbright and Blazing Ballad at Happy Valley last time.

Golden Gamble is absolutely flying. He won doing handsprings last time and was unlucky not to win the time before when hampered at a crucial stage.

Jade Signet has come right back to his best form under a careful preparation from Lawrie Fownes.

Then there is Today's Special who hasn't been asked for too much of an effort by his astute handler Wong Tang-ping going into this but he has looked very well in himself.

From strictly a form point of view, Casablanca is certainly capable of running into the tierce as is Pocket Full.

Two horses really stand out in the fourth event, namely the David Oughton-trained Emphasis and Ricky Yiu's Tollway.

Emphasis is a lovely young stayer in the making.

He is better than his fourth to Citiluck last time suggests.

Tollway looks an absolute picture in the mornings and flew home to be third to Gagne Vite in a recent 1,400-metre event and will be much more at home over this 1,900-metre trip.

The booking of English rider Darryll Holland looks highly significant for Tollway.

The sixth and final leg is the major hurdle to clear.

The big trackwork improver has been Patrick Biancone's Well Done, who trounced his stablemate, the filly Aqua Princess, who is rated two points above him.

Face The Odds is very competitive in this grade and would love a wet track and Green Maple has been racing very well.

Spirits Bay went better for Freddy Johansson last time than he's gone for virtually any other rider.

Rainbow Star continues to improve and Thunderous Action beat both Face The Odds and Green Maple last time on a heavy track.