Preparing to partner Sagacious Life in the HK$26 million BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) next Sunday (22 March), Karis Teetan hit peak form with a double at Sha Tin on Sunday (15 March) as six other participants \u2013 Keith Yeung, Harry Bentley, Chris So, John Size, Francis Lui and David Hall \u2013 figured prominently.<\/p>
Boosting his tally to 25 wins for the season, Teetan scored aboard So\u2019s Go Go Go (115lb) in the Class 5 Sa Po Handicap (1650m, dirt) and Brett Crawford\u2019s first starter Mr Incredible (129lb) in the second section of the Class 4 Nga Tsin Wai Handicap (1200m) as he bids to snare a second BMW Hong Kong Derby crown after Romantic Warrior\u2019s 2022 triumph.<\/p>
Posting his first wins in five meetings, Teetan was delighted to return to form ahead of the BMW Hong Kong Derby.<\/p>
The Mauritian is excited to be partnering Pierre Ng-trained Sagacious Life after the Brazilian import\u2019s second placing in a 1700m barrier trial at Happy Valley on Saturday (14 March).<\/p>
\u201cHe had the hood on yesterday to keep him quiet, and it was good to have him calm down in the trial,\u201d Teetan said. \u201cHe was able to finish off nicely. I\u2019ve been sitting on him every day and I\u2019m really happy \u2013 I think he\u2019s going to be a good runner.\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Mr Incredible wins on debut at Sha Tin.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Without a victory since 14 February, Teetan was elated with his double this afternoon.<\/p>
\u201cIt\u2019s great. Go Go Go has dropped down in the ratings so much now and Chris freshened him up and gave him a trial and said he was ready and with that weight, to get him going and he ran a good race, actually,\u201d Teetan said.<\/p>
\u201cMr Incredible is a smart little horse, we\u2019ve been doing a lot of work on him \u2013 up and down to Conghua \u2013 and it seems like he\u2019s taken every trial pretty good, he\u2019s learnt a lot and today was a tough win. He had to dig down and come through a little gap but he\u2019s won nicely.\u201d<\/p>
Crawford said: \u201cHe\u2019s (Mr Incredible) put up some really good trials, but he\u2019s still a big baby.\u00a0I didn\u2019t think today was easy for him, he only got a gap in the last 200m, but I think he\u2019s a horse with a lot of potential and the owners will have a lot of fun with him.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s only three-years-old; he\u2019s got a nice career ahead of him, so we\u2019ll just look after\u00a0him and take him step by step.\u201d<\/p>
Yeung also posted a double, striking aboard Francis Lui\u2019s Call Me Sparkle (127lb) in the first section of the Class 4 Nga Tsin Wai Handicap (1200m) before dead-heating on Lui\u2019s Turquoise Velocity (121lb) with Manfred Man\u2019s We Are Hero (128lb) under Jerry Chau in the Class 3 Lok Sing Tong Cup Handicap (1000m).<\/p>
Lui\u2019s push for the trainers\u2019 championship continued to accelerate with the successes of Turquoise Velocity and Call Me Sparkle, leaving the 2023\/24 Hong Kong champion with 36 wins and in fifth place overall in this season\u2019s standings behind Caspar Fownes (42 wins), David Hayes (37) and Mark Newnham (36).<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Turquoise Velocity and We Are Hero dead-heat at Sha Tin.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Lui believes Call Me Sparkle and Turquoise Velocity are both gifted gallopers.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s (Call Me Sparkle) a nice horse.\u00a0With a young horse, I think it is crucial to have a lower draw (barrier three) like he had.\u00a0He ran on well and I think he will improve for this. I like the attitude he showed,\u201d Lui said.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s in good form. At the moment, he\u2019s just between 1000 (metres), even can step up to 1200.\u201d<\/p>
With talented young horses such as Hot Delight at his disposal, Lui is building impetus as he contemplates a strong championship push with 34 meetings left in the season.<\/p>
\u201cLooking for it (trainers\u2019 championship) because I have many young horses,\u201d Lui said. \u201cThey are up and coming, so hopefully they can keep up the condition.\u201d<\/p>
David Hall\u2019s Nezha (135lb) unleashed a spectacular finish under James Orman to win the Class 4 Nam Kok Handicap (1650m, dirt) before Zac Purton and John Size combined with Endeared (135lb) to claim the second section of the Class 4 Lung Kong Handicap (1400m).<\/p>
Size moved to 31 wins for the campaign when Fit For Beauty (124lb) claimed victory in the Class 3 Carpenter Handicap (1400m) for Andrea Atzeni.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”15482″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Hall also sealed a brace with Thunder Blaze (119lb) who surged home along the fence for Matthew Poon in the Class 3 Junction Handicap (1650m, dirt). Formerly known as Sounds Like A Plan when trained by Andrew Oliver, the grey was a dual winner in Ireland. Weighing in at 956lb, the Night Of Thunder gelding powered along the fence under Poon\u2019s urgings to defeat Romantic Thor (120lb) by a short head.<\/p>
So notched his 20th win of the campaign when Harry Bentley piloted Devas Twelve (131lb) to victory in the first section of the Class 4 Lung Kong Handicap (1400m) before Bentley \u2013 who will partner Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m) victor Stormy Grove in the BMW Hong Kong Derby \u2013 completed a double on Smart Golf (124lb) in the Class 3 Kowloon City Handicap (1200m).<\/p>
David Eustace-trained Majestic Knight (125lb) took full advantage of gate one under Hugh Bowman to clinch the Class 5 South Wall Handicap (1200m).<\/p>
Hong Kong racing continues at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (18 March).<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”15479″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Preparing to partner Sagacious Life in the HK$26 million BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) next Sunday (22 March), Karis Teetan hit peak form with a double at Sha Tin on Sunday (15 March) as six other participants \u2013 Keith Yeung, Harry Bentley, Chris So, John Size, Francis Lui and David Hall… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":15483,"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\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15478"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15478"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15485,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15478\/revisions\/15485"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}