Immersed in fame and prestige, the BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) is the one race that everyone in Hong Kong desires and this Sunday (20 March) at Sha Tin, Karis Teetan is hoping to etch his name in an honour roll that stems back to 1873 when he hops aboard Romantic Warrior in the HK$24 million third and final leg of Hong Kong\u2019s Four-Year-Old Classic Series.<\/p>
\u201cI think you can ask anybody here \u2013 trainers, jockeys or owners \u2013 the Derby is the one race they want to win in Hong Kong and it\u2019s a race that we all look forward to and to win it is a big thing for us; to have a chance like Romantic Warrior \u2013 I\u2019m looking forward to riding him,\u201d Teetan said.<\/p>
Teetan arrived in Hong Kong for the 2013\/14 season \u2013 he shot the lights out in his first campaign with 50 wins and he\u2019s since added another 470 to his haul, a figure he is looking to bolster in Hong Kong\u2019s most sought-after prize this weekend.<\/p>
Won by some of racing\u2019s best in the saddle including the likes of Pat Eddery, Philippe Paquet, Gary Moore, Tony Cruz, Felix Coetzee and Michael Kinane \u2013 Teetan is full of confidence in Romantic Warrior\u2019s ability to see out the Derby distance as he chases a piece of Hong Kong racing folklore.<\/p>
\u201cLast time with the wide draw we got caught out and like Danny (Shum) said we learnt a lot from the horse and now we know, much like I said after we won the Hong Kong Classic Mile that 2000 metres will be no problem, so I\u2019m not worried about the distance \u2013 I think he will stay,\u201d Teetan said.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Romantic Warrior finishes fourth to California Spangle.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Romantic Warrior \u2013 bought for HK$4.8 million out of the 2021 Hong Kong International Sale \u2013 won his first five starts including the HK$12 million Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m) in January, before covering ground last time out to finish fourth behind California Spangle in the HK$12 million Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m).<\/p>
Teetan finished second in last year\u2019s BMW Hong Kong Derby aboard Russian Emperor behind Sky Darci, while the Mauritian\u2019s two wins in the Four-Year-Old Classic Series came with Thunder Fantasy in the 2015 Hong Kong Classic Cup and this year\u2019s Hong Kong Classic Mile with Romantic Warrior.<\/p>
\u201cThe good thing about this horse is he has a powerful turn of foot, so let\u2019s hope we can pull a draw on Thursday (17 March) which will benefit him.<\/p>
\u201cHe tries his heart out, he is just a horse who goes out there and tries his heart out, I think he\u2019s doing well at the moment and if things go our way we have a shot,\u201d the 31-year-old said.<\/p>
Owned by Peter Lau Pak Fai and trained by Danny Shum, Romantic Warrior \u2013 a four-year-old son of Acclamation \u2013 has already banked HK$11.13 million in earnings.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s doing well, he had a grass gallop on Saturday (12 March) \u2013 he seemed to do that pretty nicely, I\u2019ve always said that he is a horse who keeps improving each and every time, he\u2019s a lovely horse and I think he\u2019s a horse that\u2019s going to continue to progress nicely later on too,\u201d Teetan said.<\/p>
History will also favour Teetan and Romantic Warrior this Sunday when the pair head to post. Since 2000, only one horse has prevailed in the BMW Hong Kong Derby with a rating below 100 \u2013 Keen Winner in 2000, while this year, only Romantic Warrior and California Spangle rate above 100 on 101 apiece.<\/p>
Last Saturday (12 March) at Sha Tin, Teetan sizzled with a four-timer \u2013 form he is looking to carry through the week when he gets the leg-up on Mercurial in the first section of the Class 3 Chester Handicap (1200m) at Happy Valley this Wednesday evening (16 March).<\/p>
\u201cHe won a nice race last time, I thought he had a perfect trip, he came from the outside draw and the pace was on and he ran home very strongly.<\/p>
\u201cI think even going up in class now with less weight on his back, I don\u2019t believe it\u2019s a very strong race, so I think he\u2019s going to have his chance again,\u201d Teetan said.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”8270″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Stepping away from gate six, Mercurial steps back up to Class 3 after his last-start victory in the grade below.<\/p>
Earlier on the card, Teetan hops aboard Soaring Tower for Chris So in the first section of the Class 4 Hereford Handicap (1200m). The Charm Spirit gelding is a one-time winner from nine starts in Hong Kong.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s been a bit disappointing, when he won first-up we thought he was something special but he\u2019s had to overcome a few issues and this season he\u2019s ran one or two good races but now he heads to the Valley with a good draw, so I\u2019m hoping that will suit him,\u201d Teetan said.<\/p>
Wednesday\u2019s (16 March) nine-race fixture at Happy Valley kicks off at 6.45pm with the Class 5 Selkirk Handicap (1000m).<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”8268″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Immersed in fame and prestige, the BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) is the one race that everyone in Hong Kong desires and this Sunday (20 March) at Sha Tin, Karis Teetan is hoping to etch his name in an honour roll that stems back to 1873 when he hops aboard Romantic… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":8273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"2normal","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-derby\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8264"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-derby\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-derby\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-derby\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-derby\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8264"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-derby\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8306,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-derby\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8264\/revisions\/8306"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-derby\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-derby\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-derby\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-derby\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}