Kranji came under the spell of “Mauritian Magician” jockey Karis Teetan after he rode a brilliant double at Kranji on Saturday.
Trainer Stephen Gray’s decision to book the Hong Kong-based rider to ride Hyde Park in the S$45,000 Cash Luck 2013 Stakes, a Class 4 Non Premier race over 1200m was a wise one.
Especially when the Darci Brahma four-year-old looked like he would be gobbled up by the fast-finishing Taro San inside the last 50 yards.
But Teetan, who had rated Hyde Park in front to perfection, somehow, got his mount to lunge on the line to prevail by the proverbial pimple from Taro San.
“It’s good to get a win for Paul (Hickman, owner of Hyde Park) as he’s a good friend of mine,” said Teetan.
“The horse got to the front pretty easy. I had so much horse under me that I was actually surprised he won by such a short margin.
“I think he needed company when he hit the front on his own at the top of the straight. If the other horse had drawn level earlier, he would found another length earlier and would have won by a bigger margin.”
Gray was delighted the judge’s call went his way after admitting the stable has struggled to really take off this season and was only at his 11th success this year when he is at least at a figure twice that amount at this time of the year.
“We’ve had seven individual seconds lately, which tells me the horses are running well. But we’ve had no luck in general, the horses are high in class, injury, bad draws, your name it,” Gray said.
“Karis rated Hyde Park very well. We didn’t want to lead, but I told Karis this horse has enough speed to go forward and let them chase him.
“That would be his only way to win and that’s exactly how it panned out. At the 200m, I couldn’t look and when I saw the other horse coming, I thought we'd lose, but he hung on.”
Hyde Park has now taken his record to two wins from five starts for Hickman’s St George Stable. -STC