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Ensued takes Sa Sa Ladies’ Purse, sets sights on HKIR

HONG KONG - Ensued took a vital step towards the 2024 LONGINES Hong Kong International Races (HKIR) on Dec 8 with victory in the HK$4.2 million (S$716,000) Group 3 Sa Sa Ladies’ Purse Handicap (1,800m) under an inspired ride by Karis Teetan at Sha Tin on Nov 3.

Third in last season’s Hong Kong Classic Cup (1,800m), 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 ($58) forged into clear running at the top of the straight before hitting the front 200m out and holding off La City Blanche by three quarters of a length in 1min 46.41sec. Chancheng Glory was third.

Earning a Pre-import Performance (PP) Bonus of HK$1.5 million as well as HK$2.35 million in prize money, Ensued improved his Hong Kong record to four wins and two placings from nine starts and holds entries in both the HK$36 million Group 1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (2,000m) and the HK$24 million Group 1 LONGINES Hong Kong Vase (2,400m).

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 prize money.

“He raced very well. 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.”

Raced by Ada Wong, who also owned Size’s previous Sa Sa Ladies’ Purse winner Endowing (2013), Ensued, an American-bred four-year-old by Lemon Drop Kid, gave Size his fourth win of the season.

“As everyone’s aware, I’m a little bit slow to get away as I like my horses to have a break, so they’re slower coming into form,” he said.

“This is a great result for us today and hopefully we can start our season and improve on that.”

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 (1,400m). The 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 score an impressive win.

“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.

“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.”

Homegrown jockeys Keith Yeung, Derek Leung and Vincent Ho all starred with doubles. For Yeung, it was the first brace he was slotting for the season.

Yeung prevailed on Hong Kong International Sale purchase Kingly Demeanor for Tony Cruz in the Class 5 L’Oreal Paris Handicap (1,800m), before winning on the Chris So-trained Master Of All in the Class 4 Eleanor Handicap (1,400m). HKJC

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