Karis Teetan, Vincent Ho and Lyle Hewitson will compete in the LONGINES International Jockeys\u2019 Championship (IJC) on 6 December after the trio secured the final three places in the series at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (22 November).<\/p>
In the absence of injured Hugh Bowman (21 wins), Teetan (20) qualified as the next best-performed rider behind Zac Purton (31), while Vincent Ho (13) claimed his place as the leading homegrown rider from Matthew Chadwick (seven).<\/p>
After a four-way tussle involving Hewitson, Brenton Avdulla, Andrea Atzeni and Luke Ferraris for the remaining slot came down to the last race of the final meeting in the LONGINES IJC qualifying period, Hewitson edged out Avdulla on a countback with more third placings.<\/p>
Ferraris had made a late surge by winning the Class 4 Plover Cove Handicap (1200m) on Scotch Tycoon for Mark Newnham to draw level with Avdulla, Hewitson and Atzeni with two races left on the card but ultimately Hewitson\u2019s third placing on Brave Star behind David Hall-trained Never Too Soon, under Keagan De Melo, in the Class 3 High Island Handicap (1200m) sealed the issue.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Never Too Soon wins the finale at Happy Valley.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Avdulla, Atzeni and Ferraris could have snared the final spot with a win \u2013 or in Avdulla\u2019s case a second placing \u2013 but the trio finished behind Hewitson in a blanket finish.<\/p>
Hewitson will appear in the LONGINES IJC for the third time after totalling 10 wins, 14 seconds and 19 thirds compared to Avdulla\u2019s 10 wins, 14 seconds and eight thirds \u2013 having started the night with fewer seconds than Avdulla.<\/p>
\u201cMy unlucky one of the night \u2013 Happy Tango (second in the opening event) \u2013 saved me, so I\u2019m very grateful for that. Look, there\u2019s no secret \u2013 we made it in by default but, with that said, someone had to step up to the plate and I\u2019m glad it\u2019s me,\u201d the South African said.<\/p>
\u201cI\u2019ve competed in two IJCs previously. Hopefully it will be third time lucky.\u201d<\/p>
Teetan, Ho and Hewitson join Purton, James McDonald, Ryan Moore, Yuga Kawada, Hollie Doyle, Tom Marquand, Bauyrzhan Murzabayev, Rachel King and Mickael Barzalona in the HK$1 million contest, with the competition winner earning HK$600,000.<\/p>
Teetan crowned his LONGINES IJC selection with victory aboard Douglas Whyte-trained Splendid Star in the Class 5 Shek Pik Handicap (1650m), the first leg of a double for the Mauritian.<\/p>
\u201cTo ride on IJC night against the world\u2019s finest jockeys who will be here \u2013 the Club puts on a night you will remember forever \u2013 so to be part of that, it\u2019s fantastic,\u201d Teetan said.<\/p>
\u201cIt\u2019s a pleasure to get the support \u2013 without the support you just can\u2019t do it. Last season, I was a bit sick and mentally and physically it wasn\u2019t easy, but when you don\u2019t give up, it\u2019s rewarding.<\/p>
\u201cI just try to win on every horse I ride and try to give them the best chance.\u201d<\/p>
Teetan sealed his brace as Pierre Ng\u2019s Quantum Patch collected a HK$1.5 million PP Bonus with victory in the Class 3 Kam Shan Handicap (1650m).<\/p>
Ho cemented his place atop Caspar Fownes-trained M Unicorn in the first section of the Tai Tam Handicap (1650m).<\/p>
\u201cI\u2019ll have fun in the IJC again against the top jockeys in the world, I\u2019m really looking forward to it. It\u2019s another learning opportunity for myself \u2013 everything is about learning, so riding against those guys will be amazing,\u201d Ho said.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
M Unicorn scores for Vincent Ho and Caspar Fownes.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Ho proceeded to a race-to-race double when Happy United swept down the outside to land the Class 4 Shek Lei Pui Handicap (1000m) to give Jamie Richards a double. Richards and Antoine Hamelin combined for their first winner of the season when Ernest Feeling surged to a clearcut success in the Class 5 Tai Lam Chung Handicap (1200m).<\/p>
Alfred Chan notched his first win of the season with a clever ride on David Hayes-trained Samarkand in the Class 4 American Club Challenge Cup Handicap (1650m).<\/p>
\u201cIt\u2019s awesome,\u201d Chan said. \u201cIt\u2019s been frustrating because I\u2019ve had three seconds for my boss (Caspar Fownes) this season, so to win this race tonight is great. I\u2019ve been working hard and trying my best, so it\u2019s a great result.\u201d<\/p>
Hong Kong racing continues on Sunday (26 November) with the running of the Class 1 Chevalier Cup Handicap (1600m) at Sha Tin.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6422″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Karis Teetan, Vincent Ho and Lyle Hewitson will compete in the LONGINES International Jockeys\u2019 Championship (IJC) on 6 December after the trio secured the final three places in the series at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (22 November).In the absence of injured Hugh Bowman (21 wins), Teetan (20) qualified as the… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":6423,"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\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6419"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6419"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6426,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6419\/revisions\/6426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}