Timing is right for Hot King Prawn

By Declan Schuster

John Size has been Hong Kong champion trainer 11 times and already wears the mantle of an ‘all-time great’ and among his 1,222 Hong Kong career wins two have come in the toughest arena of all, the LONGINES Hong Kong International Races.

The handler heads into this year’s edition on Sunday (8 December) with a strong hand, including no less than five runners in the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint. And should the dashing grey Hot King Prawn emerge from that quintet to take the spoils, it would surely rank among Size’s finest achievements.

“He’s been fine I haven’t seen anything in him to suggest that he has any residual problem since the procedure that he had. Racing was going to be his test and he raced quite well the other day - I’m not concerned about him,” Size said.

Hot King Prawn suffered a bout of colic in February, which required surgery and wiped out half of last season and slowed his return to the track this campaign.

But Size believes that the time is now for the exciting sprinter who has won nine of 12 starts and is now in his fourth Hong Kong season at age five.

Eight horses of that age have won Hong Kong’s premiere sprint contest across the race’s 20 year history, and the trainer is looking to add the Denman gelding’s name to that list.

“He’s an interesting horse for the race because he’s the right age and it’s possible that we haven’t seen his best yet,” Size said.

Hot King Prawn won all three starts in the lead-up to last year’s LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) - the G3 National Day Cup (1000m), G2 Premier Bowl (1200m) and the G2 Jockey Club Sprint, installing him as a dominant market pick in the 1200m feature where he faded to ninth.

“I know he had 12 career starts but he went around as a 2.1 favourite in this race last season - so the public expected him to be able to improve on his previous figures,” Size said.

“He won three races to get that figure to get into that race last season - so we probably burned a bit of energy doing that, he was four but now he’s at a stronger age as far as sprinters are concerned, so he might be able to do a little bit better either this run or the next run,” Size said.

Size’s patient approach with the grey paid off with a smart seasonal return. A refreshed Hot King Prawn finished second behind Aethero in last month’s G2 Jockey Club Sprint.

 “My approach with them is that we just give them the time they need - we gave him four months to recover with no work and then we brought him up steadily,” Size said.

Karis Teetan will partner Hot King Prawn in Sunday’s test but even if the gelding is not successful, his handler doesn’t expect his window of opportunity to close.

“I’m hopeful that if he can’t win this race that he can win a race of this calibre throughout the season,” Size said.

The Australian Racing Hall of Famer trained Mr Stunning to victory in the 2017 edition of this race, while his other HKIR win came with Glorious Days when racing first-up, no less, in the 2013 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile.ct,” Size says.

“He has a very good temperament; he’s easy to ride in a race, which most of the good horses are, and he helps himself a lot on race day.”

Mr Stunning made his debut at Happy Valley on 3 February, 2016 with Teetan in the plate.

“I normally have a host of Class 4 horses and from memory I thought he was quick enough to go to Happy Valley at his first start,” Size recalls.

And quick enough he was: the Exceed And Excel gelding displayed an electrifying turn-of-foot to successfully accomplish what many a good horse cannot - win on debut in Hong Kong.

Beauty Generation, Ambitious Dragon and Aerovelocity are just a few who never managed a first-up score.

“I was the first guy to ride Mr Stunning in his debut at Happy Valley and when they win like that you know already that they will go higher in the ratings.

We always thought highly of him even before he started racing - he always showed us that he was talented,” Teetan says.

Natural ability and versatility have been keys to Mr Stunning’s achievements.

 “His racing manner is a big asset for him: simply, he can be ridden anywhere - his first win he was a long way off the lead, so that tells you he’s quite versatile,” Size says.

“When he goes to the races and if he draws a good gate, it means you can make a plan for him and he’ll comply - whatever the jock wants to do the horse will do and that obviously leaves him with energy to complete the race.”

Mr Stunning won 10 races for Size from 19 tries, three at G2 level as well as his 2017 G1 Hong Kong Sprint score.

“He had a good first season - he won three times in his first three starts and in his third season for me he won the Hong Kong Sprint,” the handler says.

“He then ran second at his next three starts and in each of them he was beaten by one of my horses but he was always the one to beat and the most consistent of mine.”

Those three runner-up efforts came behind D B Pin in the G1 Centenary Sprint Cup, Beat The Clock in the G2 Sprint Cup and Ivictory in the G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize.

Mr Stunning finished outside of the top three only three times from 19 starts for Size, adding further merit to his already impressive record. His unplaced efforts came when he was either first-up or at the end of his campaign.

Latterly for Lor

Mr Stunning maintained his consistency when he was transferred to the Frankie Lor stable for the 2018/19 season, his sole win that term was the G1 Hong Kong Sprint but his four other efforts resulted in four placings.

Injury struck though, a right humerus stress fracture wiped out the back-end of last season, forcing a patient Lor to give him four months to recuperate and delaying his return this campaign.

“He came out of his first-up run fine; it was his first run this season and from gate 12 so it was a pleasing performance,” Lor said.

That return performance produced a midfield eighth place finish under Australian hoop Hugh Bowman, against a star-studded G2 Jockey Club Sprint field, won by the new kid on the block, Aethero, who recently lowered Sacred Kingdom’s long-standing 1000m Sha Tin course record.

For Mr Stunning though, a shot at history beckons this Sunday and while it will be Lor’s name in the race programme, credit to his champion galloper should also be shared with Size, Lor’s former mentor, who played a pivotal role in the horse’s development from his Hong Kong debut to the first of his two G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint victories.

Bowman will be on board for the second time and Lor is positive yet circumspect about his star sprinter’s chances of a hat-trick.

“He’s only getting older, I hope he can run a good race - it would be quite special,” he says. “I hope he gets a good draw for the race.”

History awaits Mr Stunning this Sunday but win, lose or draw he has earned his place as one of Hong Kong’s finest sprinters and a worthy warrior.ut this season he’s so much stronger.”

Purton has ridden Exultant to every one of his eight wins in Hong Kong going back almost two years and is well-placed to judge the bay’s progression.

“He’s developed as he’s gone,” he said. “He had no speed in his races at all early on in his time here, and now, especially in the last six months, he’s starting to show more gate speed and he’s giving himself more of a chance.”

Purton’s words are perhaps ominous for his rivals but maybe not as disconcerting as Cruz’s bullish assertion.

“This is his prime, at age five, he’s better now than he was last time, he’s a stronger horse coming into the race this year, he’s a serious horse,” the handler said.

Purton echoed the sentiment, but with a note of caution.

“He’s going terrific,” he said. “His last win was very good, I just hope that hasn't flattened him for this race, it’s a strong field, it’s never an easy race for us but he’s going to be in with a chance.

“Tony has big plans for him this season and that can take things out of a horse. He’s going to need to manage him well. He’s managed him perfectly so far and Tony knows what it takes to train these good horses. I have a lot of confidence in him and the way he’s going to present the horse and his plans - I’m excited for the season ahead.”

As for the question of who will be top dog on the Hong Kong scene when Sunday’s sun sets, Purton is not losing faith in his other star galloper’s ability to bounce back and become only the second triple winner of the LONGINES Hong Kong Mile.

“I hope he can do it,” he said. “This year there are a few question marks over Beauty Generation but he hasn't been getting beat far, he’s had little excuses and if things pan out well for him we hope he can do it again.”

And if both horses should win and continue to thrive, the talk is that Purton could enjoy the thrill of riding Hong Kong’s two biggest stars at Meydan’s Dubai World Cup meeting in March. But first, there’s the most important business of deciding supremacy and defending home pride at the ‘Turf World Championships’.