Teetan strike puts him in contention for World All-Star Jockeys

Karis Teetan hit the mark on the opening day of the World All-Star Jockeys at Sapporo Racecourse today, Saturday, 24 August, putting himself firmly in contention for honours at the half-way stage of the JRA’s international jockey contest.

The Hong Kong-based Mauritian sat joint-second in the standings after partnering Win Exceed to victory in the competition’s second leg. He settled his mount behind the Keita Tosaki-ridden leader Lyric Drama early in the 2000m race, urged for acceleration approaching the 400m mark, and sped past Lyric Drama to score by three-quarters of a length.

Teetan grabbed 30 points for that win while Tosaki took 20 for second and the Yuga Kawada-ridden Gold Flag finished a further half-length behind in third. 

Teetan scraped a single point in the opening leg when his mount King King King finished 12th of 14. The 1200m contest went to the Christophe Lemaire-ridden Arinna.

Teetan and Lemaire ended the day with 31 points, just one point behind the leader Tosaki who gained 12 points with his fourth-placed finish atop Taisei Sonic in the first leg.

Tosaki’s and Lemaire’s efforts helped Team JRA to a commanding lead in the team event. The local stars held an advantage of 137 points to 87 points over Teetan’s Team World All-Stars.

The third and fourth legs of the World All-Star Jockeys contest will continue at Sapporo on Sunday (25 August) afternoon. Teetan will team up with Realist in the third leg, a 1700m dirt event, before climbing aboard Jo Book Kommen in the concluding leg, an 1800m event on turf.ack,” he said, “I’ve been to Sapporo twice and although the draw of which horses I will ride is all down to luck - I’m still going there in a good frame of mind. It’s not going to be something new to me, I’m really hoping that everything can go my way and I do well.”

The contest, spanning two race days, begins with two races on Saturday, 24 August when Teetan will partner King King King in a 1200m contest and Win Exceed over 2000m. His challenge will continue on Sunday, 25 August with Realist in a 1700m race and will conclude in the fourth and final leg over 1800m aboard Jo Book Kommen.

Teetan will face-off against 13 other riders for the individual title, he being one of five invited overseas jockeys. His rivals include Japanese legend and past WASJ winner Yutaka Take, Japan’s current champion jockey and another past victor Christophe Lemaire, and US Eclipse Award winner Julien Leparoux.

He will join Leparoux, New Zealander Lisa Allpress, Irishman Colm O’Donoghue, France’s Mickaelle Michel and local NAR riders Fumio Matoba and Tomohiro Yoshimura to compete against seven JRA jockeys for the team title.

Teetan anticipates that the experience, one week before the start of the Hong Kong season, will sharpen him for the 88 race-meeting challenge which lies ahead.

“It’s good for me and it’s going to get me going early because I’ll be riding a week before, he said. “Riding in Hong Kong, you come up against so many competitive jockeys and although I’m in my seventh year, I’m always trying to learn and get better all the time. I think going to Japan now and competing against the jockeys there, it can only be good for me.”

The 2019/20 Hong Kong season commences at Sha Tin on Sunday, 1 September.