Yoo Yoo King set for big effort in O'Brien Handicap
The warmup race has been completed. Yoo Yoo King can win for the first time in his career in Hong Kong in Wednesday’s O’Brien Handicap for sprinters at Happy Valley Racecourse.
A 4-year-old South African-bred, Yoo Yoo King was 12th in his Hong Kong debut on July 1, toward the end of the circuit’s 2018-19 season. Yoo Yoo King finished a troubled fourth in his first start of the current season, on Oct. 9.
Yoo Yoo King raced in traffic in the final sixteenth and was beaten 1 1/4 lengths. The stewards conducted an inquiry, but did not change the order of finish.
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Trained by Tony Millard, Yoo Yoo King is the 133-pound topweight in the O’Brien Handicap at six furlongs, the last of nine races on Wednesday’s program. Yoo Yoo King will be ridden by Karis Teetan, who was aboard for the Oct. 9 race.
Yoo Yoo King had four starts in South Africa in 2018 as a 2-year-old when racing under the name Sulka, winning a maiden race in his second start and finishing third in the Group 2 Golden Horseshoe Stakes at seven furlongs.
The O’Brien Handicap drew a field of 12, with two runners on the also-eligible list. Yoo Yoo King drew the rail, and typically races as a stalker. Teetan may have a tricky assignment to gain position in a large field from that post.
There will be a pace to follow from runners such as My Darling and perhaps Dancing Fighter, the mount of leading rider Joao Moreira. Dancing Fighter has been favored in three of his last four starts, and has been second in three consecutive starts.
Moreira is booked to ride Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup in Australia before returning to Happy Valley where he is booked to ride the entire card. Teetan and Zac Purton are the other riders with mounts in all the races.
In the O’Brien Handicap, Purton will ride the capable Nordic Warrior, who was second in front of Yoo Yoo King on Oct. 9.