Shinn Keen to Cement Hong Kong Position

There was certainly a sense of irony in the ascendant win of Sky Field (Deep Field-Laravissante, by O'Reilly) in the Gr3 Premier Cup (1400m) at Sha Tin on Saturday as expat hoop Blake Shinn attempts to climb into the upper echelons of the HK jockey ranks. The ultra-impressive win by the chestnut 4YO, a $175,000 yearling purchase from the draft of Trelawney Stud at the NZ Bloodstock 2018 Karaka National Yearling Sale, also made space for Shinn to dream of just how far Sky Field could take him up the mountain. As scmp.com reports, a clearly excited Shinn commented post-race, "It's just fantastic to win a Group race here in Hong Kong. Doing well in these types of races is where all the riders want to be and it's where I want to be." He added, "It's very satisfying. It's been well documented that it's been a tough journey for myself in Hong Kong but we've remained positive, knuckled down and kept learning, and the trainers have been very supportive." Capturing his twenty-fifth winner of the season (9 more so far than his debut year), Shinn also promised bigger things for the son of Deep Field: "It's electric. He feels like a genuine Group 1 horse and he's been placed in the sprint two runs ago at the highest level in Hong Kong, and from the first time I got on him, I thought he was a Group 1 horse." December's Hong Kong International meeting now looms large on the radar.