Super Jockey Dominant in Korea Sprint

Super Jockey secured a pioneering victory in the Keeneland Korea Sprint (Kor-I) Sept. 11 at Seoul Racecourse.

Hong Kong's first horse to race on South Korean soil also became the first to win as he took the inaugural edition of the $700,000 race that covered 1,200 meters (about six furlongs), the first of two contests open to overseas competitors at the new Korea Autumn Racing Carnival.

The gelding's trainer, Tony Millard, stressed the amount of planning that went into getting the horse prepared for the Sprint.

"Going into this sprint, a lot of things went right and we had a good feeling about it," the South African said. "The team worked really well, because we had to prepare the horse in the off-season, which is not easy, especially as he's a horse that doesn't sweat. That's quite a big call in Hong Kong's summer humidity.

"The race panned out exactly the way we planned, which doesn't often happen. He runs very well fresh. We know that and I was very happy with his preparation coming into this. It was great. I didn't actually expect him to win that well, but he's a high-class horse."

Super Jockey broke smartly from post 2 and, once out of the sand-churning slipstream of the pace setter Perdido Pomeroy, the Sandtrap gelding had plenty of run under jockey Karis Teetan.

"The leader came around me pretty quickly out of the barrier and I didn't want to sit behind him. I wanted to get my horse out and once I really got him out of the kick-back and gave him a clear run, he really started pulling me through and I didn't want to pull him back to break his action," Teetan said.

"I wanted to see how many others were making ground. I could see the leader would go enough and I would be able to get out, so I held him a little bit to get around but once I got around there was no kick-back and that was the main thing."

Super Jockey was pulling around the turn beside the pacesetter, but a flick of the reins with 350 meters to race took Hong Kong's hope into a clear lead.

"Once we turned into the home straight he changed (leads) and really let down," Teetan said.

Teetan allowed his mount to coast home through the final 100 meters to win by four lengths.

"I was looking for them and he was getting lazy," he said. "Like Mr. Millard said, ride just like it's a trial, because that's how he likes it. In all his trials back home he really trials well when you allow him to do what he wants. He handled the (sand) surface pretty well and he ran a very good race. He had a lot in the tank still."

The win was Super Jockey's fifth out of 23 starts and his first win outside Hong Kong since his runner-up finish in the 2015 Dubai Golden Shaheen (UAE-I) and import to Hong Kong from New Zealand.

"Karis (Teetan) eased him down, which was lovely. We live to race another day," Millard said. "We'll go back to Hong Kong and decide there, where we'll aim for next."

The Peter Wolsley-trained Macheon Bolt took second for Korea with Japan's Grape Brandy in third.

Japan dominated the day's other feature, the group I Korea Cup at 1,800 meters (about 1 1/8 miles), with the Kanichiro Fujii-ridden Chrysolite drawing clear from Kurino Star O to land the prize. Triple Nine was a long way back for third.