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.
