Exciting young guns lock horns at Sha Tin

Emerging talents Victor The Winner and Howdeepisyourlove are each chasing a hat-trick of wins and on Saturday the pair will collide for the first time in a red-hot Class 2 Nurturing Talent 1200m Handicap (1200m) at Sha Tin.

Victor The Winner made every post a winner in his Class 2 debut at Sha Tin last start, while Howdeepisyourlove waltzed home at Happy Valley last month for consecutive Class 3 triumphs – hard-held across the finishing line by Karis Teetan in the latest of the two, incurring an 11-point rating hike in the process to reach a career-high mark of 84.

Both seem destined for loftier targets with the 93-rating Victor The Winner – trained by Danny Shum – pairing with Zac Purton from barrier nine as he chases a fifth win at his seventh start. Howdeepisyourlove will be tested in Class 2 for the first time this weekend.

“He (Victor The Winner) drew a good gate and he had a light weight on his back. He was softened up a little bit through the early to middle stages of the race and then did a good job, I thought, to kick strongly in the straight and get the job done (last start).

“We’re faced with a new scenario here because Nervous Witness is quite quick and he’s drawn underneath us and Victor The Winner has done all of his winning in front and on the fence – so he’s obviously going to have to sit outside the leader and handle all of that.

“He’s on a little bit of a quicker back up – Danny’s been vocal in saying the horse is better with his runs spaced but it was either run in this race or we had to wait a long time for the next one and we’re rolling the dice with him. We have the quick back-up and a racing style that hasn’t been successful for him previously to contend with, so we’ll see how he goes,” Purton said.

Victor The Winner clocked 1m 08.20s last start when he smashed six-time winner Packing Treadmill by two and a half lengths from out in front. A three-year-old son of Deep Field who is trained by John Size, Howdeepisyourlove has swiftly emerged with Saturday shaping as an important acid test.

“I think this weekend is going to give us a guide on how good Howdeepisyourlove is. I think it’s the perfect race – he has a nice weight on his back and a nice draw (barrier four). I think both factors will give him his chance to be competitive,” Teetan said. “He’s been doing everything right, I feel like after each run he goes back and he feels like he’s learned from one run and comes out and learns again – he’s improving and he’s getting better with racing.”

Established sprinters Nervous Witness, Trillion Win and Ima Single Man top the handicap in the same race looking to defy their younger adversaries – the former has been selected to run in the HK$20 million G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m) on FWD Champions Day (Sunday, 30 April).

Nervous Witness raced wide on the dirt last start from an awkward draw and this time will step away from gate three under Hugh Bowman.

“I have a healthy respect for Victor The Winner, I think he’s a good horse but he does like to get on top and control things, he’s not going to have that luxury in this race – Nervous Witness is a fast horse and he’s one dimensional, so there’ll be no tactics from my point of view. I’ll be riding him to suit him and if he can reproduce his run from two starts ago he’ll make it very interesting,” Bowman said.

The depth of the HK$2.64 million dash sees Class 2 winners Winning Dreamer, Carroll Street, Adios, Oriental Smoke and Toronado Phantom bolster competition as well as the one-time winning Goko Win, who continues to raise the bar on both turf and dirt. He steps away favourably from barrier two, while the seven-time winning Ka Ying Master rounds out the hotly contested race.

Teetan moved to 41 wins for the term with a double on Wednesday night (12 April) at Happy Valley and the Mauritian ace will take a full book of rides in his quest to further advance the jockeys’ standings at Sha Tin following a delayed start to his campaign.

“I lost everything when I was off, I lost all of my horses and I had to start again from zero – it took me a while to build up the relationships with some of the horses and try to get more support. Things are coming along and I’m thankful to all of the owners and trainers for their support,” Teetan said.

The 32-year-old has 16 wins since the beginning of March and he hops aboard Packing Hurricane in the Class 4 Beijing Clubhouse Anniversary Cup Handicap (1800m) after the four-year-old finished a hampered 11th last month.

“I was in a spot where he was travelling and I got him to relax a bit and the leader sort of stopped pretty quick in the straight – I had no chance to get him out as early as I would have liked to but when he did get out, I wouldn’t say he flew off, but he still went on with it – it was too late,” Teetan said. “He comes down to Class 4 and he should run a better race.”

Bowman will ride Beauty Joy in the HK$20 million G1 FWD Champions Mile (1600m) and Courier Wonder in the Chairman’s Sprint Prize on FWD Champions Day, Purton unites with Prognosis in the HK$25 million G1 FWD QEII Cup (2000m) as well as California Spangle and Lucky Sweynesse in the FWD Champions Mile and Chairman’s Sprint Prize, respectively.

Vincent Ho will partner Golden Sixty in a barrier trial next Tuesday (18 April) at Sha Tin and is excited to hop aboard Danon The Kid in the FWD QEII Cup later this month.

“His (Danon The Kid) recent run in Japan was very good. I’m happy with that performance, he didn’t need to win last start after a break – he’ll be fit and we’ll see,” Ho said. – Hong Kong Jockey Club