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.