Karis Teetan is favoured to serve up National Cup victory
TIPPED: HOT KING PRAWN IS FANCIED TO WIN FIRST GROUP 3 RACE OF SEASON
John Size looks to grab most of the spoils at Sha Tin.
Hong Kong
Karis Teetan, a South African-trained jockey, is tipped to take the first Group 3 race of the season today at the National Day race meeting at Sha Tin.
Teetan, who has struck up a solid working relationship for trainer John Size, is tipped to take the HK$3.25-million (about R5.9million) Group 3 National Day Cup Handicap – the main race of the day – over 1000m.
Teetan is currently second on the Hong Kong jockey championship with five winners from 42 rides – two wins behind log leader Zac Purton.
Visiting South African Jockey Grant van Niekerk is joint-second on the table with Teetan and has seven rides at Sha Tin today – but seemingly with little chance of success according to Hong Kong tipsters.
Another South African rider, Callan Murray, returns from suspension for the meeting and has four rides, but also has found little favour from tipsters.
Instead John Size is predicted to make a strong showing in the National Day Cup with Ivictory under Purton tipped to run third.
Hot King Prawn is seen as a horse of plenty of promise and who is going to be hard to beat with the slightest ounce of luck.
Not Listenin’tome is a veteran now who looks well past his best. However, he did run second in this race last year to add to his victory in 2015 and is coming off a stint at Conghua, where he won a barrier trial by almost 10 lengths recently.
Ivictory steps out for just the second time against stakes company, but given that his first resulted in a win in the Group 1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize over 1200m, he still holds a perfect record in Group races. Interestingly, he would have got into this race on the limit if he had not run in the Chairman’s Sprint Prize, but instead he carries top-weight. He’s a chance but he will improve for this run going forward. Doctor Geoff needs far further than this trip, but he could add spice to the exotics at big odds.
In the second Group 3 feature of the day Size has a powerful four-hander in the Celebration Cup Handicap over 1300m.
Three of his charges – Ping Hai Star, NothingIlikemore and Thewizardofoz are tipped to have chances.
Teetan rides Nothingilikemore while another jockey with South African connections – Chad Schofield is down to ride another favoured horse -Seasons Bloom.
Ping Hai Star’s biggest win came in the BMW Hong Kong Derby over 2000m, but it is easy to forget that he had never raced beyond 1600m and never won beyond 1400m before that effort.
He has shown very little in his trials to date, but that’s to be expected. Don’t be surprised to see him flying home and winning this fresh.
Seasons Bloom has to carry plenty of weight but will be primed fresh and he’s a logical threat.
Nothingilikemore may prove to be best at 1400m, and it remains to be seen whether he can take another step forward this season, but if he can, he’s right in contention.
The first race on the card, The Chengdu Handicap, is likely to draw attention because of the debut of Roman Chef.
This is a HK$6 million (R10.8 million) graduate of the Hong Kong International Sale in March has looked good in his trials and shapes well for the race.