Neil Callan is known for his physical toughness but even he had to concede to a bug that was affecting him at Sha Tin yesterday, standing down from his last three mounts – although not before riding a winner. Callan said he had been coughing up some phlegm after one or two early rides and began struggling to get his breath back after races but expects to be fine to go again on Thursday. “Maybe a little infection, something like that, I’ll be fine but thought it better not to push it,” he said, but at least he had the win of David Ferraris-trained Nitro Express to take home. “I’ve been watching him for a while and asked David if I could ride him when he steps up to 1,400m because he’s been running out of ground in the 1,200m races. Luckily, David was listening. He’s quite a big horse and a bit awkward so the stop-start race today didn’t help. Even though he only just won, it was better than it looked.”
Jubilant Olivier Doleuze remains only jockey to win on Good Fit
Olivier Doleuze has been able to go away for six months then return to Hong Kong racing without ever missing a win by Good Fit and he remains the only jockey to have won on the Michael Chang Chun-wai-trained gelding after a Class Five success yesterday. Over the years, Doleuze has put in the hard yards on the five-year-old, who hadn’t scored since December 2014, but the Frenchman knew he was going to be competitive after 200m. “Some days, you feel he doesn’t want to try but as soon as we got to the first turn today he was flying,” Doleuze said. “And that’s all it takes. We always thought he had a little bit of quality, definitely he is better than Class Five. He ran well last time Happy Valley but Sha Tin is a better track for him. It’s good for Michael, good for me – it’s hard to win at the moment and there are no small races in Hong Kong. I feel like I won the Derby.”
Mixed, but sensational, day for Mauritian magician Karis Teetan
One up, one down was the day’s end for jockey Karis Teetan after he landed 44-1 shot Sensation to win the final race for Benno Yung Tin-pang, then found himself on the wrong end of the law for an earlier ride. Teetan will take a two-day careless riding ban on June 15 and 19 for his effort on Royale Elegance in race five, with a fine of HK$82,500 thrown in, but at least he got some of it back with Sensation. “He always enjoyed a fast pace and he got that today,” said Yung. “He’s a horse who needs a lot of luck but I thought he had a chance today off this rating and Karis took hold of him early and gave him a chance to finish off.” Gavin Lerena had a more miserable tale to the tell than Teetan though – no winner and two careless riding bans, in races two and 10. All told, he will be out from June 16 to July 2 and was fined HK$10,000.
