Teetan takes strong dirt record into Purton-less card
Zac Purton has dominated Sha Tin's all-weather track for a decade, but his suspension on Wednesday night gives Karis Teetan an opportunity to add to an impressive record of his own.
Purton leads all jockeys over the past 10 seasons on 120 victories, although Teetan is a clear second on 98 from 708 rides. The Mauritian has finished among the top three in the all-weather standings seven times, leading outright twice.
This season, however, Teetan has made the quicker start. He shares the all-weather lead with Nichola Yuen Hang-yiu on two wins from seven rides, while Purton has yet to score from eight.
Teetan sits ninth overall on seven wins from 101 rides, but has eight bookings for six trainers and are for David Eustace, whose partnership has already yielded two wins from four rides this term after going winless from 28 last season.
More unusual are his two rides for Caspar Fownes. Teetan has ridden for the stable just 15 times since 2024/25, and their last all-weather winner came in March 2021. He partners Daily Trophy in Race 3 and Perfect Team in Race 6.
Class 2 drop no shortcut in extended Class 3s
The two extended Class 3 races give four horses the chance to drop from Class 2, but past results suggest it offers little advantage.
Races 8 and 9 carry a rating band of 85–60 rather than the usual 80–60, allowing horses rated above 80 to compete in Class 3.
There were 376 such races between 2007/08 and last season, including 113 on the all-weather. Horses rated 81–85 accounted for 41.3 percent of the winners despite making up just 34.5 percent of starters.
The distinction lies in where they raced last time. Horses rated 81–85 coming off a Class 3 run won 13.1 percent of the time, compared to 7.7 percent for those dropping from Class 2, barely better than the 7.2 percent recorded by horses rated 80 or below.
The same pattern holds on the all-weather, where the respective strike rates for Class 3 runners and Class 2 droppers were 14.5 and 7.5 percent.
The four horses dropping from Class 2: Self Improvement and Blazing Wind in Race 8, and Top Dragon and Gorgeous Win in Race 9.
Deep Field out to rule the dirt again
Deep Field has nine runners across five races at Sha Tin on Wednesday night, more than any other sire on the all-weather card, and given his record on the surface, that is hardly surprising.
Since his progeny first began racing in Hong Kong in the 2019/20 season, Deep Field has produced 45 wins from 366 starts on Sha Tin's all-weather track, a strike rate of 12.3 percent compared to 8.1 percent for all other sires over the same period.
That is three times as many wins as his nearest rival, Hard Spun, whose 15 victories have come from 94 starts. Deep Field has also topped the all-weather sire standings for four consecutive seasons, producing 21 individual winners.
Three of his progeny line up in the opener: Team Happy, Yee Cheong Raider and Happy Action. Winning Diamond makes his all-weather debut in Race 2, while Robot Knight and Conrad The Great contest Race 3.
Good Chap, twice successful on the surface, runs in Race 7 before Self Improvement and Blazing Wind meet in Race 8, having won seven all-weather races between them.
