John Size may not have been as animated as Karis Teetan following Ensued’s victory in Sunday’s Group Three Sa Sa Ladies’ Purse (1,800m) at Sha Tin, but the veteran trainer seemed just as satisfied.

While Teetan stood high in the irons and shouted with delight following Ensued’s impressive success, Size soaked up his fourth winner of the season in typically understated style.

“This is a great result for us today and hopefully we can start our season and improve on that,” said the 12-time champion trainer.

“As everyone’s aware, I’m a little bit slow to get away because I like my horses to have a break, so therefore they’re slower coming into form.”

Sent off $11.75, Ensued sat just forward of midfield from gate 13 in a race where a muddling early speed gave way to some decent fractions thanks to a mid-race move from Lyle Hewitson aboard Moments In Time.

Ensued loomed ominously cornering for home and was too strong late, beating $61 chance La City Blanche by three-quarters of a length.

“He raced very well. I haven’t had the benefit of watching a replay yet, but it seemed to me watching the race live that it was just run perfectly to suit him,” said Size.

“They seemed to separate and a division of the horses became unattached to the leading division and it looked set up beautifully for him approaching the turn.

“Luckily he was in a position to take advantage of all that. Today he had a lot of luck.”

Size’s second Ladies’ Purse victory came for the same connections as his first, with Ensued following in the footsteps of Endowing 11 years ago by taking out the feature for owner Ada Wong Yin-man and family.

“I’m sure [the Wong family] invests a lot of money and time and energy into trying to procure a good horse,” said Size. “They buy yearlings and horses overseas and get them qualified to come here.

“That can be a sorrowful process, but every now and then they’re rewarded for their patience and this is a good example of that.”

Teetan, who snared this contest in 2016 with Horse Of Fortune, was thrilled to improve his record aboard Ensued to two wins and a second from three rides.

“It’s always good to get those big races like that. It’s such a big day. It’s nice to ride for Mr Size. I’m really grateful for the support and I’m also happy to win this race again,” Teetan said.

“I spoke to Mr Size yesterday and he said ‘the draw is going to be a bit tricky, but if you can get him into a rhythm, he’ll be a horse that keeps running’. To be honest, the race panned out really well.

“We got into a really good position and once the race picked up, I felt like he was going to unwind. Into the straight, he really accelerated nicely.”

Ensued will now head towards the Group Two Jockey Club Cup (2,000m) on November 17 before tackling either the Group One Hong Kong Cup (2,000m) or Group One Hong Kong Vase (2,400m) on December 8.

“He hasn’t got much in the way of options, actually, because of the fact he’s a stayer and the fact his rating is going to go a bit higher now,” said Size.

“The options are just about zero. He’ll have to run in those races and hope he can grab some prize money.”

Reigning Hong Kong Derby champion Massive Sovereign, who finished 16 and a half lengths clear of Ensued in the city’s most prestigious race, had every chance down the middle of the track but could only manage sixth.