{"id":3344,"date":"2020-04-22T12:55:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T04:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ctr-campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/?p=3344"},"modified":"2020-04-23T10:31:12","modified_gmt":"2020-04-23T02:31:12","slug":"more-than-this-has-questions-to-answer-in-fwd-champions-mile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/news\/more-than-this-has-questions-to-answer-in-fwd-champions-mile","title":{"rendered":"More Than This has questions to answer in FWD Champions Mile"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
[vc_row el_class=”section-padding-top”][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”2016″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” css_animation=”none” el_class=”title”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/div>\r\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”3347″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]More Than This heads into Sunday\u2019s (26 April) HK$20 million G1 FWD Champions Mile in the midst of an identity crisis of sorts but reunited with Karis Teetan, the man with a perfect record on the Francis Lui-trained four-year-old.\r\n\r\nReel back to early December and the British import had just completed a hat-trick of wins under Teetan, a perfect start to a campaign that held the tantalising hope of BMW Hong Kong Derby triumph. His victories had come at 1400m and a mile but his dogged style, dour at times, suggested 2000m in mid-March might be right up his street.\r\n\r\n\u201cI\u2019m happy to be on him back over the mile \u2013 I\u2019d always thought he\u2019d be better over further but to be honest when he was winning those races, he was doing it the hard way,\u201d Teetan said, recalling runs such as his wide, battling passage to land a storied 1600m Class 2 handicap on the LONGINES Hong Kong International Races undercard \u2013 a contest that has fallen to the likes of Able Friend and Werther in recent years.\r\n\r\nBeside the visual muddle of his racing style stands his pedigree: his sire, Dutch Art, did not win beyond 1200m, was G1-placed at a mile and has not sired anything of elite quality capable of winning beyond that distance; his dam did however place third in a modest 10-furlong Windsor handicap, and she is a half-sister to both the talented sprinter-miler Wannabe Grand and the smart Wannabe Posh, G3-placed over a mile and six furlongs \u2013 the noted stamina influence Shirley Heights looms large on that side of the family.\r\n\r\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
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More Than This wins over a mile in December.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]More Than This\u2019s placed efforts behind his brilliant stablemate Golden Sixty in the Hong Kong Classic Mile, running on from deep, and the Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m) \u2013 same again \u2013 did little to dampen the belief among the gelding\u2019s supporters that here was a stayer in the making. But then in the Derby itself, More Than This was beaten three lengths, a wider margin than in each of the two previous Classic Series contests.\r\n\r\n\u201cI still think he ran pretty well in those Classic Series races, it\u2019s just the horse who was winning was too good for all of them,\u201d Teetan noted.\r\n\r\nThe nature of More Than This\u2019s performances, his sluggish opening sectionals followed by a strong, winding run home, raises the question: Stayer in the making or lazy miler?\r\n\r\n\u201cI think going back to the mile, it seems to me that he\u2019ll like that more, he likes that there\u2019s more speed and he can be left alone and then have that 500-metre run. Maybe this is what he wants right now,\u201d the Mauritian ace said.\r\n\r\n\u201cI\u2019ve won three races on him this season and I felt that the last time I won on him I tried to put him into the race and he didn\u2019t feel good so I allowed him to drop out, be outside, and that\u2019s when he let down. I think\u00a0that\u2019s what he likes \u2013 more speed in the race, where he can be left alone and then finish.\u201d\r\n\r\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”3348″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Lui is in agreement. The handler is looking forward to the Huang Kai Wen-owned gelding stepping out at a mile, but he is not discounting his charge returning to a longer trip in the future.\r\n\r\n\u201cI discussed with the owner and we took into consideration his past form at the mile so decided to go this route with him,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not sure if he\u2019ll be best at the mile or over further in time, he is a bit lazy and in the Derby he kept on okay but over a mile he has shown he has some acceleration at the end of his races.\u201d\r\n\r\nLaziness is a recurring theme. And the bay\u2019s rigid, twitching tail when under a drive suggests the gelding has a hint of the Rodin bronze about him too \u2013 but Teetan is still a fan and delighted to be back aboard after losing the ride for the Classic Series to Ryan Moore and Zac Purton.\r\n\r\n\u201cHe\u2019s a lovely horse but he is a lazy horse and he hates to be close to horses too,\u201d Teetan said. \u201cMaybe that\u2019s why last time in the Derby when he was drawn one it maybe wasn\u2019t in his favour; he\u2019s so big, he doesn’t feel as comfortable between horses.\r\n\r\nMore Than This is the only horse to have contested the Four-Year-Old Classic Series set to take on his elders in the Champions Mile and he will have to be at his peak level to cope with the competition.\r\n\r\nAmong his rivals is a one-time \u2018stayer\u2019 \u2013 the Sha Tin track record holder at 2200m \u2013 who went to conquer all as a powerful-running miler, Beauty Generation.\r\n\r\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]

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More Than This rattles home in 22.15s in the Hong Kong Classic Mile.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]\u201cMore Than This is the horse coming in as a fresh face in the group against the older horses \u2013 Beauty Generation is the champion but there\u2019s not a lot between the top horses with \u2018Beauty\u2019, Waikuku and Ka Ying Star all finishing close together these days so I\u2019m excited to see how he gets on against them,\u201d Teetan said.\r\n\r\nMore Than This won three from three as a two-year-old with trainer Richard Fahey in Britain but the gelding has scope and whatever happens on Sunday, Teetan expects upside is still to come.\r\n\r\n\u201cI think maybe next season he\u2019ll be stronger, physically he\u2019ll be better, But I still feel like since I\u2019ve got back on him, he\u2019s already improved so much. I can feel he\u2019s growing,\u201d he said, having partnered in a barrier trial last week.\r\n\r\n\u201cI still think,\u201d he added, \u201clater on, we\u2019ll see him do well over further \u2013 maybe in an 1800-metre race.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe FWD Champions Mile is one of three G1 races on FWD Champions Day at Sha Tin, along with the HK$25 million FWD QEII Cup (2000m) and the HK$18 million Chairman\u2019s Sprint Prize (1200m).\r\n\r\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”3347″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]More Than This heads into Sunday\u2019s (26 April) HK$20 million G1 FWD Champions Mile in the midst of an identity crisis of sorts but reunited with Karis Teetan, the man with a perfect record on the Francis Lui-trained four-year-old. Reel back to early December and the British import had just… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"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\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3344"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3344"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3352,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3344\/revisions\/3352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}