Teal banking on Kenzai Warrior to shine in Horris Hill

Colt won on debut at Salisbury

Roger Teal is excited to see what Kenzai Warrior can do in the rescheduled Horris Hill Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday.

Teal was looking forward to stepping his charge up in class when this Group Three event was originally scheduled to be run at Newbury last weekend – and while that that fixture had to be abandoned due to waterlogging, officials moved quickly to save the race.

Kenzai Warrior made a good impression on his racecourse debut at Salisbury in early September, displaying a willing attitude to get the better of Ralph Beckett’s subsequent dual winner Max Vega by a neck and open his account at the first time of asking.

Hungerford-based Teal has not made any secret of the regard in which he holds the son of Karakontie since.

“Newbury would have been closer to home and Newmarket is obviously a different track. Like any horse he’s got to prove the handles the undulations, but he is quite a well-balanced horse, so hopefully he’ll be fine,” Teal said.

“I’m hoping he’ll run a good race. I think there’s a bit more rain forecast, so the ground will be on the soft side and that is the unknown, but he has an action that suggests he’ll appreciate it.

“If he handles the track and ground I hope he’ll run well, as he’s a seriously nice horse and we like him a lot.”

Despite the absence of Kinross, Beckett still has a major contender in the form of Tomfre.

The Cable Bay colt has won four of his six starts to date – three of those victories coming at Newmarket.

The highest-rated of 13 runners with a mark of 102 is Keith Dalgleish’s Scottish raider Aberama Gold – a Listed winner at York on his latest outing three weeks ago.

Other hopefuls include George Margarson’s consistent youngster Ropey Guest, the William Haggas-trained hat-trick seeker Surf Dancer, Aidan O’Brien’s San Pedro and Charlie Appleby’s once-raced Yarmouth winner Boccaccio.

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