KARIS Teetan secured his first Longines International Jockeys’ Championship at Happy Valley on Wednesday, seeing off Ryan Moore after a consistent night across the four race-contest.

Favourite to win after the opening ceremony, Teetan posted points-scoring performances in the first two legs, before edging past his 11 rivals from the best jockeys around the world with a third-placed effort in the fourth and final decider.

Ryan Moore finished second in the overall standings as Flying Genius won the final leg after a simple and efficient ride from Moore, who might have had a second win after setting almost perfect fractions with Magnificent in leg three.

But he was caught on the line by an inspired Colin Keane, who ran home in tremendous fashion to snatch the victory on Valley specialist Flying Quest, now a six-time winner at the track.

Two from two

“They went good and hard early and he really got into his stride turning in and he hit the line well,” said Keane, who now has two race wins from two visits to the Longines IJC following last year’s debut success aboard Special Stars.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Chairman Dr Anthony Chow presented the coveted silver whip and a winners’ cheque of HK$500,000 to Teetan, who had won leg two when driving Dream Warriors between horses to score by a short-head.

“I still can’t believe I’ve won this challenge,” said an elated Teetan.

“It’s just not a normal day up against the world’s best jockeys. I really wanted to do well and I’m glad everything went well.

“We ride here every week but it’s a different kind of racing when you’re out there against so many good jockeys.

“Even watching Ryan and Frankie (Dettori) riding here we’ll pick up a few things and let’s hope it can help me in the future.”

Teetan will have notable chances of Group 1 glory tomorrow in the International races with Hot King Prawn in the Hong Kong Sprint and Ka Ying Star in the Mile.

Teetan conjured a fine response when throwing down his challenge on Dream Warriors to win leg two, wrapping up a quickfire double for trainer Tony Cruz in the process.

Dream Warriors’ success was a narrow one and Teetan’s third-placed finish aboard the late-charging G Unit proved to be decisive in the opening race, edging out Vincent Ho on Prawn Yeah Yeah to capture a decisive four points, despite his mount never quite going the pace of the winner.

Although Teetan only finished third on the heavily-supported High Rev in the final leg, four points were enough to put him over the top against Moore.

Vincent Ho snatched the money when charging home on Glorious Dragon which put him on the bottom step of the podium in third place. Colin Keane finished fourth in the overall standings.