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

The Hong Kong-based Mauritian is joint leader in the standings after partnering Kvasir to victory in the competition’s first leg. Jumping from barrier 14, Teetan settled his mount three-wide in the midfield early in the 1200m race before accelerating approaching the 400m mark, and speeding past Joao Moreira-ridden Courteous Manner to score by a nose. Oxlip ran third under Japanese representative Ryusei Sakai. Another Hong Kong representative Vincent Ho finished a close fifth on board Glanz Berry in the same race.

Teetan said after the race: “He was a bit slow out of the gate and was keen to go at one point but I was able to steady him. He found his rhythm and showed a good turn of foot.”

Teetan, who was joint-third in the 2019 edition of the competition, earned a place in this year’s competition after New Zealand representative Lisa Allpress suffered an injury. In addition to Teetan and Ho, the line-up for this year’s World All-Star Jockeys also includes Damian Lane (representing Australia), Joao Moreira (Brazil), Tadhg O’Shea (United Arab Emirates), Delphine Santiago (France), Tomohiro Yoshimura (Japan, NAR representative), Norihiro Yokoyama (Japan), Kohei Matsuyama (Japan), Christophe Lemaire (Japan), Keita Tosaki (Japan), Yuga Kawada (Japan), Yutaka Take (Japan) and Ryusei Sakai (Japan).

Both Teetan and Ho scraped a single point each in the second leg as Teetan’s mount Bikini Boy could finish only eleventh, while Ho’s ride New Normal was last of 14 in the 2000m contest which went to Lemaire-ridden Schwarze Kugel. Pod Bullet ran second under Matsuyama while Ask Doux Porte finished third with Sakai atop.

Teetan and Lemaire are joint-leaders with 31 points after the first two legs, followed by Sakai with 30 points. Ho ranks eighth with 11 points.

The World All-Star Jockeys series also features a team component. Japan’s Team JRA leads midpoint with 113 points, versus the 111 points of Team World All-Star.

Though Ho was winless in the first and the second leg of the series, he did score in the undercard with Laurel Orb in the second race at the Sapporo meeting today. Jumping from gate two, Ho patiently settled his mount in the rear early and, after moving to outside for a clear run in the straight, his mount displayed a great turn of foot to win the race. This was Ho’s sixth win in Japan. Ho had a total of eight rides today, returning one win, one second and two thirds, one fourth and two fifths.

Teetan also scored in the undercard. He partnered Win Acteur to land a narrow win in the race seven of the card (1800m). Despite a bit keen in the early part of the race, Win Acteur was nicely placed along the rail throughout the race and then achieved a gusty win in the final stages.

Teetan said before today’s event: “I have to say thank you to JRA for giving me the opportunity again. Last time when I rode in this competition, I finished third. I will give my best and hope to add some points and achieve a good result for Hong Kong.”

Ho also expressed his gratitude to JRA: “Thanks JRA for inviting me to participate in this event. I am exciting to join and see all the Japanese fans. I can’t wait to get on the track.”

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 Y Y Legend and Ho will ride Ca Va Bien in the third leg, a 1700m dirt event, while they will aboard Cosmo Dinner and Yui, respectively, in the concluding leg, an 1800m event on turf.