Thriving in the absence of Zac Purton and Hugh Bowman, Karis Teetan and Vincent Ho consolidated positions inside the top five of the Hong Kong jockeys\u2019 championship with doubles at Happy Valley on Thursday night (4 January).<\/p>
Teetan, who sits second in the standings with 35 victories, combined twice with Douglas Whyte to cut Zac Purton\u2019s lead to 15 wins with the Australian on a rare leave of absence, while Ho moved into fifth place with 19 wins after teaming up staunch ally Francis Lui on two occasions.<\/p>
A remarkably consistent performer, Teetan extended his lead over third-placed Bowman (suspended) to 12 following his success on Shinkansen and Majestic Knight in the Class 2 Albatross Handicap (1200m).<\/p>
\u201cThe New Year has just started and it\u2019s great to get some winners,\u201d the Mauritian said.<\/p>
\u201cTonight has worked out well and I\u2019m glad I got some winners. I had some decent rides and some good support, so it\u2019s nice to get the wins.<\/p>
\u201cCredit to Douglas and his team. Majestic Knight, when I didn\u2019t lead, he came back under me and when I picked him up, he really responded well. I was very impressed \u2013 Howdeepisyourlove is a very classy horse and for Majestic Knight to beat him tonight shows how well he is going.\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6543″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Whyte was elated after Majestic Knight\u2019s (122lb) triumph after the gelding staved off Wonder Kit (119lb) by a head with Howdeepisyourlove (132lb) only a short head away in third place.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s the model of consistency really. It looked like he would lead tonight but that didn\u2019t work out,\u201d the South African said. \u201cHe took the trailing position and it worked out well. He saved some energy and it proved beneficial at the end.\u201d<\/p>
Lui and Ho combined with Cordyceps One to land the Class 5 Mesia Handicap (1650m) and the duo also struck with Gallant Waking in the Class 3 Nightjar Handicap (1650m) as Lui took his tally for the season to 26 wins \u2013 15 fewer than Pierre Ng.<\/p>
Extending an incredible season, Pierre Ng scored with Bon\u2019s A Pearla \u2013 one of the few mares racing in Hong Kong \u2013 in the Class 3 Sea Eagle Handicap (1200m) under Alexis Badel. Winner of the G2 Thousand Guineas Prelude (1400m) in Australia in 2021, Bon\u2019s A Pearla had placed only twice in 11 starts before the mare unleashed a withering finish tonight.<\/p>
\u201cShe\u2019s always been a tricky one \u2013 even for the stables who had her before,\u201d Ng said, celebrating his 41st win of the campaign. \u201cWe tried everything \u2013 every course and distance \u2013 but she didn\u2019t like it. Finally, she liked a sprinting race at the Valley.\u201d<\/p>
Jamie Richards\u2019 season continued to gain momentum when Super Fast Dragon swept to victory in the Class 4 Robin Handicap (1000m) under Lyle Hewitson, enhancing the Kiwi\u2019s strong affinity with Happy Valley.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s a horse who needs a little bit of luck because of his racing style. He was pretty unlucky on IJC (LONGINES International Jockeys\u2019 Championship) night, and he didn\u2019t have everything go his way that day. It\u2019s good to get a bit of luck, and like most horses in Hong Kong, they need a little bit of time to adjust,\u201d Richards said.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s getting there now, and he was given a good ride tonight. Hopefully, he can go on from there. He\u2019s down at the bottom of Class 4, so he\u2019s going to get another go for sure. He\u2019ll find his rating eventually. The owners have been very patient and very loyal, so I thank them for the support.\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Super Fast Dragon breaks though.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Beauty Infinity provided 12-time champion trainer John Size with his 20th winner of the campaign with success in the second section of the Class 4 Lark Handicap (1200m) and left a favourable impression on in-form jockey Andrea Atzeni.<\/p>
\u201cHe ran a very promising race last time, he finished off nicely but we knew we were taking on better horses this time,\u201d Atzeni said. \u201cBut he\u2019s obviously improved again and he\u2019s a nice horse.\u201d<\/p>
Sure Joyful proved too strong in the Class 4 Hong Kong Golf Club Centenary Cup Handicap (1650m) for Ricky Yiu to provide Matthew Poon with his fourth score of the season.<\/p>
Hong Kong racing continues at Sha Tin on Sunday (7 January) with the G3 Bauhinia Sprint Trophy Handicap (1000m).<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6544″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Thriving in the absence of Zac Purton and Hugh Bowman, Karis Teetan and Vincent Ho consolidated positions inside the top five of the Hong Kong jockeys\u2019 championship with doubles at Happy Valley on Thursday night (4 January).Teetan, who sits second in the standings with 35 victories, combined twice with Douglas Whyte… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":6545,"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\/6541"}],"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=6541"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6558,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6541\/revisions\/6558"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}