Ensued takes Sa Sa Ladies’ Purse, enhances LONGINES HKIR claims

By Leo Schlink
Ensued took a vital important step towards the 2024 LONGINES Hong Kong International Races (HKIR) on 8 December with victory in the HK$4.2 million G3 Sa Sa Ladies’ Purse Handicap (1800m) under an inspired ride by Karis Teetan at Sha Tin on Sunday (3 November).

Third in last season’s Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m), John Size’s charge jumped from barrier 13 before sliding forward and benefiting from Moments In Time’s mid-race move — which injected speed into the race and effectively split the field into two divisions — to ultimately have a perfect run.

Settling fifth behind leader All For St Paul’s, Ensued (115lb) forged into clear running at the top of the straight before hitting the front 200m out and holding off La City Blanche (119lb) by three quarters of a length in 1m 46.41s. Chancheng Glory (121lb) was third.

Earning a PP Bonus of HK$1.5 million as well as HK$2.35 million in prizemoney, Ensued improved his Hong Kong record to four wins and two minor placings from nine starts and holds entries in both the HK$40 million G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (2000m) and the HK$24 million G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Vase (2400m) on 8 December.

Winner of 12 Hong Kong trainers’ championships, Size said: “He hasn’t got much in the way of options, actually, because of the fact he’s a stayer and the fact his rating is going to go a bit higher, so I think the options are just about zero — he’ll have to run in those (HKIR) races and hope he can grab some prizemoney.

“He raced very well (today). I haven’t had the benefit of watching a replay yet, but it seemed to me watching the race live that it was just run perfectly to suit him. They seemed to separate and a division of the horses became unattached to the leading division and it looked set up beautifully for him approaching the turn. Luckily, he was in a position to take advantage of all that. Today he had a lot of luck.”

Raced by Ada Wong, who also owned Size’s previous Sa Sa Ladies’ Purse winner Endowing (2013), Ensued gave Size his fourth win of the season.

“As everyone’s aware, I’m a little bit slow to get away because I like my horses to have a break so, therefore, they’re slower coming into form. This is a great result for us today and hopefully we can start our season and improve on that,” he said.

Celebrating his second victory in the race after Horse Of Fortune in 2016, Teetan said: “It’s always good to get those big races like that. It’s such a big day, it’s nice to ride for Mr Size, who gave me the opportunity and I’m really grateful for the support and I’m also happy to win this race again.

Luke Ferraris’ horsemanship proved decisive before the start of the Class 3 Santa Monica Handicap (1400m) when the young South African athletically controlled race favourite My Wish who broke through the barriers before the start.

Restrained after only a few metres, My Wish was inspected by vets and allowed to start — and proceeded to an impressive victory under 122lb.

“Fair to say, we deserved that,” Ferraris said. “We’ve got to work on his barrier manners a bit, he can be a difficult customer but he’s got the ability and he showed it today. It was not an easy feat stepping up in distance and he had to show us he is the horse we think he could be and he’s done a superb job from barrier 14 — he’s pulled off a really good win.

“Well done to Mark (Newnham) and his whole team. I’m grateful for the support — Mark is going from strength to strength.”

Keith Yeung, Derek Leung and Vincent Ho all starred with doubles as Yeung slotted his first brace of the season with Kingly Demeanor and Master Of All.

Yeung prevailed on Hong Kong International Sale purchase Kingly Demeanor for Tony Cruz in the Class 5 L’Oreal Paris Handicap (1800m) before winning narrowly on Chris So-trained Master Of All in the Class 4 Eleanor Handicap (1400m).

“Master Of All is a lovely horse, he tries his best the whole time and he deserved to win,” Yeung said. “The track today benefits the front-runners and both of my horses had enough speed to be travelling well and have a soft lead in front — it’s been a good day.”

Following Wednesday night’s (30 October) two wins at Happy Valley, Cruz sealed a double when Californiatotality landed the Class 4 Grace One Handicap (1600m) under Brenton Avdulla before Caspar Fownes-trained Flying Luck clinched the Class 4 La Estephe Handicap (1400m), driving late on the inside for Vincent Ho.

Ho closed out another successful meeting with success on Francis Lui’s Steps Ahead in the Class 3 Dr. G Handicap (1400m), while Leung scored on Sugar Ball in the Class 4 Canmake Tokyo Handicap (1200m) for Cody Mo and Jimmy Ting’s Glory Elite in the Class 3 Suisse Programme Handicap (1200m).

Geneva made it two wins in a row with success in the Class 4 Kate Tokyo Handicap (1200m) for David Hall and Hugh Bowman.

Hong Kong racing continues at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (6 November).