By Michael Cox
Karis Teetan is keen to boost the fortunes of trainers at opposite ends of the championship table at Happy Valley tonight.
At the top end, Teetan teams up with championship leader John Size, who is battling through a 21-race run-of-outs as he clings on to a six-win break over David Hayes at the top of the standings with 16 meetings remaining in the season.
Adding to the tension is that Size has been stuck on 1,599 career wins for the past two weeks, something Teetan is hoping to end early in the card when he partners U S S Constitution (Race 2, No 5).
"It would be great to win for John, there is a lot of competition for rides from his stable and some success would keep my foot in the door there," Teetan said. "He is gunning for that championship. It's always great to ride for him and he has some very nice horses coming through."
While a win for Size would help him clinch a 13th career championship – extending the record he already holds – victory for Michael Chang Chun-wai with Sovereign Fund (Race 9, No 12) in the final race of the night would arguably be more significant for the trainer.
Chang is last in the championship with 13 wins and needs just one more to avoid a third "strike" under the performance criteria guidelines that, if he fails to reach, could potentially have him stripped of his license.
It is likely that Chang will get that winner sometime in the next 15 fixtures regardless of results tonight but Teetan said he wanted to get it out of the way for the trainer in the Wyndham Handicap (Class 3, 1,200 meters).
"It would be amazing to win for Michael too, he is one of the nicest guys in Hong Kong racing and Sovereign Fund looks like a great chance," Teetan said. "He won in Class 4 really well for me two starts back and then last start in Class 3 he was terrific."
Teetan believes his best chance is Dragon Star (Race 4, No 7) for Me Tsui Yu-sak, who is third-last in the standings on 14 wins but heads to the races with some nice chances tonight.
"He (Dragon Star) is in a race where there isn't much speed and he can get into a rhythm," Teetan said. "I think last start he did everything right and just got beaten. He can go one better."
