Jimmy Ting Koon-ho breathed life into his ailing season at Sha Tin on Sunday, landing a 338-1 double with a pair of debutants he hopes have plenty more to give this campaign.

While heading into the meeting Ting had been marooned on just four victories since January 24, successes to Thunder Blink and Lo Pan Spirit ensured he left with his best haul in almost a year and a couple of young gallopers to get excited about.

“I needed the double and I need some more winners,” said Ting after moving to six victories for the term, still well short of the 16 he needs to meet the Jockey Club’s trainers’ benchmark and avoid a first strike.

Ting opened his account for the afternoon by snaring the season’s first Griffin race, the Wangfujing Plate (1,000m), with three-year-old colt Thunder Blink, who stopped the clock well inside standard at 56.42 seconds.

Sent off at $8.9 after five pre-debut trials, Thunder Blink settled just off the speed under Jerry Chau Chun-lok before finishing too strongly for $1.4 favourite La Forza.

“I think the horse needs longer distances, so to get this win, I’m very happy,” Ting said after snaring the five-furlong contest for unraced northern hemisphere three-year-olds and southern hemisphere two-year-olds.

“The fast pace suited him. Later I think 1,400m will be more suitable for him. Hopefully he can win one more time [in Griffin grade].”

Lo Pan Spirit was far less popular with punters ahead of the Class Four Hong Kong Lions Cup (1,200m), drifting from $27 to $38.1 late, but perhaps the win of Thunder Blink should have provided something of a steer, with the former crossing the line a couple of lengths ahead of the latter in their most recent trial.

After getting an easy time of it on speed, Lo Pan Spirit and Awesome Treasure strode clear to duke it out in the straight, with Ting’s charge finding enough to prevail by a neck.

“It’s a surprise. I thought he would run well but I didn’t think he could win,” Ting said of his three-year-old.

“The blinkers helped him a lot. In his first few trials with no blinkers he wasn’t concentrating, he was just looking around, so last trial I put the blinkers on and he concentrated much more and he improved a lot.”

Lui looms large

While Ting faces a fight to drag himself off the bottom of the trainers’ championship, Francis Lui Kin-wai continues his relentless pursuit of Pierre Ng Pang-chi at the top of proceedings.

Eight wins adrift of the summit heading into the season’s 63rd meeting, Lui reeled off his second treble in the space of three weeks to bring up his half-century and trim the margin to five with 25 fixtures remaining.

After taking out the Class Three Dongsinan Handicap (1,000m) with straight-track specialist Baby Crystal, Lui rung up a running double with King Miles in the Class Four Beijing Clubhouse Anniversary Cup (1,200m) and signed off by taking out the finale, the Class Three Dongcheng District Handicap (1,600m), with Holy Lake.

“I was looking for some winners and I will keep trying my best,” Lui said of his hunt for his first title.

Baby Crystal has now won his past three starts over five furlongs at Sha Tin, saluting under Vincent Ho Chak-yiu, while King Miles broke his maiden at start three as the $2.3 favourite under Hugh Bowman.

“He’s a straight 1,000m expert – he loves it,” Lui said of Baby Crystal. “I think [King Miles has] got potential but his mind is still immature. He needs more racing and more experience.”

Like his handler, Holy Lake continued his impressive season by winning for the fourth time and banking his maiden Class Three success.

So strikes Gold

Chris So Wai-yin is another trainer who’s been in a rich vein of form and he kept the ball rolling with a Sunday double of his own, cashing in thanks to Winning Gold and Owners’ Praise.

It was So’s third double from the past six meetings, with the 55-year-old moving to 25 victories for the campaign and jumping a couple of spots up the premiership table into 12th.

So opened his account thanks to Winning Gold, who steamed home from midfield under South African jockey Keagan de Melo to put two and three-quarter lengths on his nearest rival in the second section of the Class Four Chaoyangmen Handicap (1,400m).

Owners’ Praise came from a similar spot to Winning Gold to snare the first section of the Chaoyangmen Handicap, but unlike his stablemate he stuck close to the rail, scraping paint in the home straight and pulling clear in the final 100m under De Melo’s countryman, Lyle Hewitson.