Karis Teetan plans to exploit an ideal inside draw and an expected strong tempo in the hope Romantic Warrior can remain undefeated and claim the HK$12 million Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m) at Sha Tin on Sunday (30 January).<\/p>
The Mauritian takes over on Danny Shum\u2019s Hong Kong International Sale Graduate from Joao Moreira, who will ride Master Delight, and believes the Acclamation gelding can present as a winning chance.<\/p>
\u201cIt\u2019s a nice ride to get on, he looks a nice, progressive horse so it\u2019s a nice opportunity for me,\u201d the Mauritian said. \u201cHearing from Joao and Danny and the way the horse has been running, it looks like the mile shouldn\u2019t be a problem.<\/p>
\u201cFrom that draw, that will make things a bit easier for him and I think he has got a bit of quality. From gate one we don\u2019t have a headache so I will ride him where he is comfortable, there are a few speed influences in the race so I will just follow them through.\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Four on the bounce for Romantic Warrior.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Blake Shinn replaces Teetan on G1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) winner Rocket Spade after the colt\u2019s last-start fourth behind Beauty Joy at Happy Valley over 1650m.<\/p>
\u201cI\u2019m optimistic about his chances. I\u2019ve got to go in confident, he\u2019s a New Zealand Derby winner and barring one run in Hong Kong, his other two runs have been really positive and I think he\u2019s a classy horse who has some chance in a competitive field,\u201d said Shinn, who won last year\u2019s Hong Kong Classic Mile aboard John Size\u2019s Excellent Proposal.<\/p>
\u201cHe looks like a horse who, as the distances stretch out, is going to be better suited. But in saying that, I took a lot of encouragement\u00a0out of his first-up run over 1400m he got back and hit the line really strongly so that shows to me he\u2019s got some sharpness about him.<\/p>
\u201cThere appears plenty of pressure in the race with California\u00a0Spangle and the like going forward, so my horse is a midfield to get-back runner and I\u2019ll hopefully ride him similarly to Excellent Proposal and get the same result.\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6033″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Excellent Proposal contests the HK$3.7 million G3 Centenary Vase Handicap (1800m) on Sunday and Size hopes a step up in distance from 1400m will prove decisive.<\/p>
\u201cHis best performance is 1600m when he won the Classic Mile but he did run well in the 1800m (Hong Kong Classic Cup) and the (BMW Hong Kong) Derby in the Four-Year-Old Classic Series,\u201d Size said.<\/p>
\u201c(On) Sunday, he\u2019s got an 1800m race that looks like it\u2019s got a decent tempo with two leaders there in Ka Ying Star and Reliable Team and hopefully he can relax the first half of the race and run home.\u201d<\/p>
G3 January Cup Handicap (1800m) winner Zebrowski (113lb) is among Excellent Proposal\u2019s rivals at the weekend and will be ridden by Matthew Poon for Caspar Fownes.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s been good, he remains in good form. Obviously, the handicap conditions\u00a0again are going to suit him for this race and I\u2019m happy with him,\u201d Fownes said.<\/p>
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to get his rating up as high as we can, he\u2019s the type of horse that \u2013 towards the end of the season \u2013 could play into his hands quite nicely.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s a nice, progressive horse and he just keeps improving. He\u2019s raced very consistently since day one and long may it continue.\u201d<\/p>
Shinn partners Panfield for Tony Millard.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s a quality horse, I was delighted with his trial. He\u2019s obviously a Group 1 winner and probably the best stayer in Hong Kong so I\u2019m rapt to be riding him,\u201d Shinn said.<\/p>
\u201cHe should be very competitive, he\u2019s an ultra-consistent horse and a horse like him, you can\u2019t discount him in any race.\u201d<\/p>
<\/a>Australian jockeys Daniel Moor and Luke Currie will have their first taste of Hong Kong racing this Sunday after completing their three-week quarantine.<\/p> Moor rides Celestial Warrior, Fortune Hero, Mr Aldan and Sunny Boy, while Currie partners Miracle Victory, Red Brick Fighter and Swot Troopers Wind.<\/p> Sunday\u2019s (30 January) meeting kicks off with the Class 4 Tathong Channel Handicap (1200m) at 1pm.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6032″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Karis Teetan plans to exploit an ideal inside draw and an expected strong tempo in the hope Romantic Warrior can remain undefeated and claim the HK$12 million Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m) at Sha Tin on Sunday (30 January).The Mauritian takes over on Danny Shum\u2019s Hong Kong International Sale Graduate from… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":6035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6028"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6028"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6036,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6028\/revisions\/6036"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-classic-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}