Sky Field faces a weighty task in Sunday\u2019s (11 September) Class 1 HKSAR Chief Executive\u2019s Cup Handicap (1200m) at Sha Tin when he makes his return at the first of 88 fixtures for the new season.<\/p>
Trained by Caspar Fownes, the classy chestnut has been allotted 135lb against nine opponents in the HK$3.465 million feature with six of these handed 117lb or less. Only Lucky Patch (132lb), Super Wealthy (129lb) and Duke Wai (124lb) sit above that figure.<\/p>
However, this challenge has left jockey Karis Teetan nothing short of excited as he prepares to partner the 2021 G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) winner for the first time on race day.<\/p>
\u201cYou do have to respect young horses with a light weight but when I sat on him (Sky Field) last time \u2013 he gave me a lot of confidence and he gives you a good feel when you ride him, so I\u2019m not too worried about the weight. I know it\u2019s a question mark but I\u2019m just looking forward to riding him now,\u201d Teetan said.<\/p>
Of Sky Field\u2019s rivals at the bottom end of the scale, Keep You Warm, Trillion Win and Lucky Sweynesse have been assigned 113lb, with the latter returning from a strong maiden campaign in Hong Kong last season with five wins, an added 46 rating points and the accolade as 2021\/22 Hong Kong Champion Griffin.<\/p>
\u201cAt the end of the day he (Sky Field) is the best horse in the race, right? This is why he has the rating he has. He\u2019s going to have to give a few young horses a bit of weight \u2013 who are coming up and in form \u2013 like Lucky Sweynesse, who has 113lb on his back.<\/p>
\u201cYes, that will make a big difference but Sky Field felt really good in his trial and we\u2019ll ride him how Caspar wants to get the best out of him,\u201d Teetan said.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Sky Field finishes second behind Super Wealthy first-up last term.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Since the HKSAR Chief Executive\u2019s Cup\u2019s inception in 1997, eight winners have carried 115lb or less, while a further seven have carried between 116lb and 119lb (both figures inclusive). Of the winners at or above 120lb, there have been 10 across the 25 editions of the race with only two of these carrying 130lb or higher.<\/p>
As for trainer Caspar Fownes, he has won three editions, notably with Lucky Nine (2010) and The Duke (2004), while Teetan won last year\u2019s aboard Naboo Attack.<\/p>
\u201cI mentioned it to Caspar, to see who was going to ride him (Sky Field) but he offered it to me last week before he trialled and it\u2019s a good opportunity to a ride a horse like him.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s run against better company than what he\u2019s taking on now and he\u2019s got plenty of quality and plenty of class, he\u2019s trialled good and Caspar thinks the horse is ready for his first run and I also think the same,\u201d Teetan said.<\/p>
Sky Field has been to Conghua for a short stint between seasons and in last week\u2019s barrier trial on Friday (2 September), the six-year-old caught the eye with a powerful first-past-the-post effort over 1200m on dirt in 1m 10.19s.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”9036″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Harmony And Rich (117lb), Winning Dreamer (116lb) and Campione (115lb) also feature in the entries for Sunday\u2019s traditional season-opening feature.<\/p>
Gearing up for his ninth season in Hong Kong, Teetan\u2019s been a hit throughout each campaign. Currently he sits on 547 wins in the city after accruing 73 last term including big-race successes with Romantic Warrior in the 2022 BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m), 2022 G1 FWD QEII Cup (2000m) and 2022 Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m).<\/p>
Following the summer break abroad with family, Teetan feels as though he\u2019s rejuvenated and ready to go. \u00a0<\/p>
\u201cI think we all needed this summer break \u2013 everybody \u2013 and it\u2019s been very good for us. For myself, I am ready to go now.<\/p>
\u201cI was saying to someone earlier, the day we got on the plane was such a nice relief but we\u2019ve had our break, we\u2019re fresh and we\u2019re ready to go. I\u2019m looking forward to taking on the new season,\u201d Teetan said.<\/p>
The new campaign will pose a number of added pressures to Teetan and his fellow riders, including the arrival of Silvestre de Sousa, while Angus Chung \u2013 who has been apprenticed to Tony Cruz \u2013 may nick of number of rides that Teetan could otherwise partner for Cruz.<\/p>
The Mauritian, however, is eager for the challenge and remains adamant he can adapt to whatever comes his way \u2013 just as he has done each season in the past.<\/p>
\u201cYou just try to get better rides each week and every season in Hong Kong seems to get harder, now we have Silvestre, so things will change and Angus, he rides for Tony, so the few I got for Tony might get a little bit shortened but I\u2019m not scared of a challenge.<\/p>
\u201cI\u2019ve been here for so many years now and I am ready to take on any challenge they throw at me. It\u2019s about adapting, it\u2019s Hong Kong and it will happen and sometimes it doesn\u2019t happen. You just have to be strong and keep fighting, if you can get through that then there is always a reward in front. I\u2019ll try to get the best rides and win on as many horses as I can. That\u2019s it, it\u2019s not always easy,\u201d the 32-year-old said.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”9037″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Much of Teetan\u2019s excitement for the new season comes with expectations regarding Romantic Warrior, who since early August, has had an interrupted preparation as he builds towards a possible clash with Golden Sixty in November on his way to a G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (2000m) tilt at the 2022 LONGINES Hong Kong International Races in December.<\/p>
\u201cI think he is ok, I don\u2019t know exactly what happened but Danny (Shum) said it was just a small twist that happened at trackwork. I know he\u2019s back at trackwork, he\u2019s been trotting a bit.<\/p>
\u201cI haven\u2019t seen him or sat on him yet but I\u2019m just hoping that everything is fine. He\u2019s taken a little break and he\u2019ll get started soon, he\u2019s one of the horses that I am looking forward to riding this season \u2013 I think a lot of people want to see him run too,\u201d Teetan said.<\/p>
Romantic Warrior is a seven-time winner from eight runs in Hong Kong after being bought by owner Peter Lau for HK$4.8 million at the 2021 Hong Kong International Sale.<\/p>
\u201cI think he definitely improved a lot last season, I didn\u2019t ride him early on but from the Hong Kong Classic Mile to the QEII Cup, every time I rode him I felt a different horse and he just kept on getting stronger after each run and each win.<\/p>
\u201cI would think that with a little break and everything that he\u2019s a horse that going towards those races could be very competitive. Of course, we have to respect horses like Golden Sixty over a mile but if this horse comes out and he\u2019s feeling good then you have to respect him a lot too,\u201d Teetan said.<\/p>
At both Sha Tin\u2019s (Sunday, 11 September) and Happy Valley\u2019s (Wednesday, 14 September) season-opening fixtures there will be Triple Trio and Six Win Bonus\u2019 up for grabs with a colossal HK$88 million spread across the two meetings.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”9034″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Sky Field faces a weighty task in Sunday\u2019s (11 September) Class 1 HKSAR Chief Executive\u2019s Cup Handicap (1200m) at Sha Tin when he makes his return at the first of 88 fixtures for the new season.Trained by Caspar Fownes, the classy chestnut has been allotted 135lb against nine opponents in the… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":9033,"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\/season-opening\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9031"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/season-opening\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/season-opening\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/season-opening\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/season-opening\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9031"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/season-opening\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9042,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/season-opening\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9031\/revisions\/9042"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/season-opening\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/season-opening\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/season-opening\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/season-opening\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}