Karis Teetan joined an elite group of jockeys to ride 700 winners in Hong Kong when he celebrated the major milestone at Happy Valley on Wednesday night.

The Mauritian jockey timed his run to perfection on Speedstar, who stormed home from the back half of the field to claim the first section of the Class Five Tai Lam Chung Handicap (1,200m).

A champion apprentice in South Africa, Teetan notched his first Hong Kong win in 2013 and has risen to become one of the city’s top riders.

“It’s an amazing number – to reach 700 wins is pretty good,” Teetan said after joining Douglas Whyte, Zac Purton, Joao Moreira, Tony Cruz and Brett Prebble in reaching the milestone.

“I’m just thankful for all the opportunities and support I get here. I cannot do this without those opportunities I get. It’s taken a lot of hard work, too, but I appreciate everything.

“It’s been a long ride but I’ve been enjoying every single moment of it in Hong Kong. It’s my home. This is great.”

After breaking slowly, Teetan bided his time on Speedstar in eighth position before making his run down the outside in the straight.

The David Hall-trained gelding launched a strong run to narrowly beat Vulcanus and Cosmo Navigator in a close photo finish.

“We thought we might be a little bit closer in the run, but we didn’t want to push him off his balance too much because the more you ride him for speed, the less he gives you in the finish,” Hall said after Speedstar recorded his first win since March last year.

“Karis executed that really well. He got his momentum going and he got there just in time.”

Fresh from a career-best championship finish when second to Zac Purton last season, Teetan hopes to add to his Hong Kong record, which includes four Group One victories and a Hong Kong Derby success on Romantic Warrior in 2022.

“As long as I’m healthy and my body allows me to do it, I’m going to keep going,” the 34-year-old said.

“You have got to take every season as it comes and you’ve got to keep working hard and hopefully get to a high number.

“Of course, Zac breaks all the records in Hong Kong, but I’m not one of those guys who puts a big target in front of me and then gets disappointed if I can’t do it.”

Teetan capped a night to remember when he also won the Class Three Shek Lei Pui Handicap (1,800m) on Pierre Ng Pang-chi’s Winning Steps.

Elsewhere on Wednesday night, Matthew Poon Ming-fai continued his fine form this season with a running double on David Eustace’s Podium and Manfred Man Ka-leung’s Island Golden.

“I’ve just focused on doing my best and trying to ride winners,” Poon said.

Andrea Atzeni replicated Poon’s race-to-race double by lifting Frankie Lor Fu-chuen’s Beauty Destiny and Ricky Yiu Poon-fai’s Giant Leap to victory.

Chill Chibi won the night’s feature, the Class Two High Island Handicap (1,650m), for Danny Shum Chap-shing and Purton with a barnstorming performance.

In other news, Alfred Chan Ka-hei has been cleared to return from thigh and hip bruising sustained in a fall at the Conghua trials last month. He will resume riding in trackwork and trials on Monday.

Connections of star Japanese filly Liberty Island have accepted an invitation to run in December’s Group One Hong Kong Cup (2,000m) after opting to skip the Japan Cup.