Karis Teetan will ride at the World All Star Jockeys (WASJ) this August knowing that the contest could be his gateway to a short-term summer licence in Japan for the first time since pre-Covid days.
The top five overseas jockeys in the finishing order at Sapporo will qualify to apply for a Japan Racing Association (JRA) short-term jockey licence.
The Hong Kong-based Mauritian is booked in for the WASJ for the third time, having placed third in 2019 and fifth in 2024. But he has not raced in the JRA on a short-term licence outside of brief one or two-day engagements since a three-weekend five-win stint in 2017, which followed two wins across three weekends in the summer of 2016 .
The stringent restrictions Hong Kong had in place during the Covid pandemic initially prevented Teetan continuing those visits during the Hong Kong off-season, and since the birth of his daughter, the jockey’s primary focus during the summer downtime has been his family.
“Applying for a short licence in the JRA is something myself and (my wife) Xavierre have spoken about,” Teetan told Idol Horse. “It’s something we’ll look forward to maybe in the next year or so.
“Our little one now is three-years-old so that makes it easier whenever we’re travelling, so even if I go to Japan and ride during the off-season, the family can come with me. The past three summers, it’s been more difficult: after Covid we needed to travel to see my parents in Mauritius, then we went to see Xavierre’s family (in France). But in the next year or so, an application to ride the off-season in Japan would definitely be on the radar.”
Before then, Teetan is hoping to improve on his two previous attempts at winning the WASJ. Both times he started strongly with a win on the opening day of the four-race event, which spans the Saturday and Sunday racing at Sapporo.
Last year he led the contest at the halfway point after winning the opener by a nose from his old Hong Kong rival and friend Joao Moreira, only to see the Brazilian charge home late to land the last of the four races and seal the championship the next day.
“Both the times I went, I had winners, and last year I had a good first day,” he said. “My rides didn’t perform on the second day, but it’s another opportunity this year for me to go back to Japan and represent Hong Kong, it’ always an honour and it’s an honour again. I’ll be taking the opportunity with both hands.
“I always enjoy going to Japan, it’s always such a nice environment. The fans there love their horse racing, supporting the owners and the jockeys and the horses, so its really great to be there seeing the fans rocking up at races two or three hours before, putting their favourite colours on the boards there to support everybody.”
Teetan remembers his first win in Japan, which came at Sapporo in July 2016, riding Holy Fruits for trainer Noriyuki Hori.
“My first winner there will always be a great memory but last year in the jockeys’ challenge, the win I had was a good one,” he said. “I ended up beating Joao on the line so that was a nice win. But all my wins in Japan have been really good and I’m thankful that I’ve had winners there because it’s a really hard place to get in and do that.”
That being so, he sees the JRA’s ‘carrot’ of a possible short-term licence for overseas riders that do well at the WASJ as being a positive move.
“It’s a really great way to have more overseas jockeys getting their chance in Japan,” he said. “It’s not easy to just go and make an application. It’s a great way to maybe get a licence if you do well, and it will encourage the jockeys to really give it their all: it’s a great motivation.”
Teetan has had a middling season in Hong Kong and seems set to finish sixth in the premiership with 40 wins on the board currently, a drop from the 86 wins that took him to second place last year. But there is motivation in being invited to Japan to race again.
“I take things as positively as I can and I’ll do the same when I go there: I can’t wait to go back there,” he added. “It’s an opportunity and maybe a door might open in the future when the Japanese are travelling horses to Hong Kong, so you never know what might happen.” ∎
