While Gavin Lerena is only just finding his feet, a former colleague is setting Hong Kong alight. Mauritian-born Karis Teetan rode his first four-timer at Sha Tin a week ago and then booted Marvel Hero home in the tenth race on Sunday – with another winner in the bag today!
Karis Teetan – motiivated and very talented
The 25 year old Teetan has come a long way since riding his first winner, a horse called Step With Style, for trainer Paul Lafferty at Scottsville in 2005.
He was, like Lerena, SA Champion apprentice and rode five Gr1 winners here , including Jackson in the Cape Derby and Thunder Dance in the Paddock Stakes, during his formative years after graduating from the SA Jockey Academy.
His sizzling Wednesday four-timer included Mr Stunning for John Size, Horse Of Fortune for Tony Millard, Excel Oneself for Y S Tsui and Packing Dragon saddled by P F Yui.
Wednesday’s win was the 34th of the season for Karis, who is in fourth position on the local jockey table and two behind third-placed, Brett Prebble.
He rode 50 winners from 583 mounts to finish fourth on the 2013/2014 log – an exceptional achievement in a highly pressurized environment featuring some of the best jockeys in the world.
As a natural lightweight (51kg) he gets plenty of opportunities, but there is also intense competition for rides given the massive stakes on offer.
Flashback to 2013 and Karis steers Jackson to another win
Teetan uses a simple counting method to monitor pace and gets rigorous practice when riding work under intense scrutiny from expert trainers and official clockers. “You can’t be even a second out,” he explained. Eventually, the sense of pace becomes inbuilt, but until reaching that stage Teetan goes through a precise and conscious per second countdown for each 400m segment.
He is totally focussed on improving his riding ability and has an insatiable appetite for winning, with even lowly events providing great reinforcement.
He has also made some technical adjustments to his seat and is now riding six holes longer. “The legs really should not move, and I would rather be comfortable by getting the drive and forward momentum from my upper body,” he clarified.
Last year he was honoured to receive an offer to ride in Japan, but in his typical humble manner considered it slightly premature and has continued to build his reputation in Hong Kong.
