Blake Shinn was the jockey of the day at Caulfield

Caulfield was lit up on Saturday afternoon as Blake Shinn saluted on three winners. The star hoop is closing in fast on 2000 winners in his career, riding at the peak of his talents this season, showcasing his skills once more. 

Shinn is currently in a three-way battle for second place in the Victorian Jockeys Premiership with Daniel Stackhouse and Billy Egan. Shinn has had more than 200 fewer rides than Egan and 300 fewer than Stackhouse which shows the level he has been operating at this season.  

Recommendation runs riot in the John Monash 

Our Saturday Best Bet was Recommendation but even we could not have predicted the way that he did it. Seven lengths is a stunning winning margin in any race. When it is in an 1100m Group 3, however, it is almost beyond belief. The horse racing bookmakers will not thank Shinn for that one! 
 
The ground conditions were perfect for him and he had a solid enough record when first up but even with so much in his favour, it was still a win that was beyond a normal performance. The son of Shalaa is now 7/17 in his career and given suitable conditions underfoot in the spring, he might be capable of taking another step forward after what was without a doubt, a career-best run.  
 
Connections will now have to have a sit down to see how high they want to aim the gelding in the spring. This would not have been the strongest Group 3 of the season, and no one would have expected it to be at this time of year. Despite that, there should be plenty more to come from him in his next prep and we could see him moving up the ladder. 

Astero showcases Shinn to perfection 

There was not a lot of pace on in the early stages of the final race on the card so Shinn took the bull by the horns and managed to get a soft time of things on the front end. His ride Astero was drawn out in barrier nine with only one rival wider than him.  
 
It was smart to be able to get across from where he was to the rails and dictate the speed. Shinn timed his kick off the turn to perfection, stealing more than enough lengths to leave his rivals floundering on the soft 7 surface to win by more than five lengths.  
 
A pair of wide-margin wins really ended the card with a bang but they also showed just how smart Shinn in. He had got clued into how the track was running earlier in the afternoon and used that to his benefit later on the card when able to get things falling his way. 

Jabberwockeez is well-timed from the back 

Shinn’s first winner on the card came in race five and was by far the most patient of the three winners. It was only his second start over 2000m, improving for the new trip and running out a very comfortable winner of the BM78. 
 
A couple of his best wins have come when he has been ridden with plenty of restraint in 14 and 15-runner fields. He is always going to need luck for the gaps to open for him when ridden in this way. It does open up some of the bigger handicaps in the spring where a strong pace to aim at could see him improve even more.

Blake Shinn will have had many bigger days that Saturday but these treble-winning days will still give the star hoop plenty of satisfaction. Even more so as the sole Group 3 on the card went his way, the big races always have that little bit more enjoyment. 2000 might be achievable next season and that will be a huge celebration of an incredible talent.