Shinn off to flying start

Australian jockey Blake Shinn showed he certainly knew where the Kranji winning post was after he got straight onto the scoresheet at his very first ride on Sunday.

Making every post a winning one aboard noted front runner I Am Sacred for local trainer Jerome Tan in the $50,000 Class 4 Division 2 race over 1,200m, the 34-year-old has sent a strong signal he was not here for a holiday.

The Melbourne Cup-winning rider is in Singapore for a five-week working stopover on his way back to Australia, after ending a successful three-year tenure in Hong Kong two weeks ago.

With wins like the 2008 Melbourne Cup on Viewed and 2021 Hong Kong Sprint on Sky Field, among others, on his glittering resume, Shinn brings big-race star power to the two feature races bookending his Kranji visit - Sunday's Group 1 Singapore Derby (1,800m) and the Group 1 Lion City Cup (1,200m) on Aug 14.

However, he met with less joy on Amazing Breeze for trainer Tan in the Singapore Derby, and on his three other rides, where he even had to showcase his rodeo skills on a Be You back to being a bucking bronco in Race 7.

The mixed fortunes at his first day at the office did bring shades of his first Kranji raid back in 2015.

Shinn then swung by for the Singapore Derby as well, but for only one day.

He also came up short at his main Derby mission aboard Twickenham. But he did come away with two wins for trainer Stephen Gray - Squire Osbaldeston and Newlands.

Unlike the last time, he will get a chance to improve on his score in the next four weeks.

"I couldn't have thought of a better way to kick off the day," he said.

"Everybody's been super great to me since I arrived. The club asked me to come over and I was more than happy to accept the invitation.

"I'm rapt I rode a winner for Jerome. He gave me four rides, even if we didn't win the Derby."

It may not have been mission accomplished in the main event, but Kranji racegoers were still treated to a top-notch ride aboard I Am Sacred, where the winning move came right at the start.

Shinn easily beat an awkward alley by punching the I Am Invincible five-year-old out to the front in the compact eight-horse field.

The favourite Charminton (Yusoff Fadzli) clapped along with him to sit on his girth, looking poised to pounce any minute.

But trainer Donna Logan's last-start winner was left flat-footed when I Am Sacred powered away at the top of the straight.

The Charm Spirit three-year-old did close in when he finally went through his gears.

But, up ahead, I Am Sacred had already sewn up his fourth win, with 11/2 lengths to spare.

Lim's Spin (Danny Beasley) finished third, 3/4 lengths away.

The winning time was 1min 9.78sec for the 1,200m on the short course.

A winner of over 1,700 races in a 20-year-long riding career that has also taken him to New Zealand, England, Dubai, Japan and the US, Shinn was delighted to add another notch on the global stage.

"I was not sure if we'd lead Charminton, but he was half-a-length slow away," he said.

"I didn't fire him up and he came back underneath me. But he was suspect at a strong 12 (1,200m race) and I was mindful of that.

"He did everything I asked him to do and it was a dominant win in the end."

Tan lauded the economical way Shinn rode the $17 chance.

"He's a jump-and-run type of horse," he said.

"He settled down well for Blake. They set nice sectionals in front and they just kept going."