Lonhro's
Group I wining son Denman is one of the quiet achievers on the Darley NSW
roster, but has a star on the rise in exciting Hong Kong trained four year-old
Hot King Prawn, who scored a brilliant win at Sha Tin on Monday in the Group III National Day Cup beating reigning Champion HK
Sprinter Ivictory.
Winning
jockey Karis Teetan compared Hot King Prawn to a Formula 1 car after the dashing
grey cruised to a three-quarter length win covering the 1000 metres in a slick
56 seconds.
"I know how Lewis Hamilton feels now, that was unbelievable," Teetan said,
shaking his head in disbelief, as he returned to the winners' circle aboard Hot
King Prawn.
"This is a proper horse, a Group 1 horse."
Prepared by John Size, Hot King Prawn had a significant weight advantage
carrying just 53 kg, while his stablemate Ivictory carried 60.5kg.
"If you'd seen him on the way to the gates, you wouldn't know he was a
sprinter," Teetan said. "He goes down to the start like he doesn't want to do
anything, he's so quiet – he's a lamb, he just saves so much energy before the
race.
"But when those gates open, it's like he's a different animal altogether. He
switches on and he's focused on what he has to do. He's like a car that goes
straight from a stop to turbo speed, it's quite something. Today, he got a
trail behind Fabulous One and he was breathing so nicely underneath me, he
started to wind up and I knew I had plenty of horse. I pressed the button and
he chased well, he was pricking his ears a little bit actually."
Hot King Prawn was a $90,000 Inglis Classic purchase for Aquanita Racing from
the Torryburn Stud draft and has the overall record of seven wins and a second
from eight starts.
"I'm
very happy with both of my sprinters, they both ran well," Size said of Hot King Prawn and Ivictory.
"It looked normal for them and they both have got somewhere to go with that. I
think they can progress from that. With Hot King Prawn, he seems to have
matured exactly the way you would hope he would, he's a little bit stronger and
he was nice and relaxed going down behind the gate and in the run. That will
help him with the 1200m next start."
The path for Group-class sprinters is laid out clearly: next is the G2 Premier
Bowl Handicap (1200m) on 21 October, followed by the G2 Jockey Club Sprint
(1200m) at set weights and penalties on 18 November, before the G1 LONGINES
Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) on 9 December.
Bred and sold by Torryburn, Hot King Prawn is a half-brother to four other
winners including Group III winner Siren's Fury being from Unbridled's Song
(USA) mare De Chorus, a daughter of stakes-winner Val de Grace.
De Chorus has a two year-old colt by Your Song called Deauville, a yearling filly
by The Factor (USA) and was covered last spring by Golden Slipper winner
Capitalist.
Hot King Prawn is the 12th stakes-winner for Denman, who stands at
Darley Hunter Valley at a fee of $8,800.