Beauty Generation bosses Chairman’s Trophy, Voyage Warrior causes Sprint Cup upset
Beauty Generation (Road To Rock) brushed aside the younger challenger and shrugged off old rivals to win the Chairman’s Trophy (Gr 2, 1600m) at Sha Tin yesterday, setting up the prospect of an unprecedented third victory in the G1 FWD Champions Mile (Gr 1, 1600m) at the end of the month.
The New Zealand-bred gelding’s success was his 18th as a Hong Kong-based galloper, matching the career tally of the great Silent Witness (El Moxie), and pushed his own record prize money haul past HK$100 million (AUD$21.5 million).
“He’s done that nicely leading into the Champions Mile. He’s 100 per cent right now, so I’ve just got to carry that through the next three weeks,” trainer John Moore said.
“It was a very nice win, the tempo was absolutely perfect and everything went to plan. My fellow wasn’t hit, it was hands and heels, so it’s a good sign for the Champions Mile – everything is positive.”
The mile feature was billed as a match between Beauty Generation and the circuit’s rising mile star, Waikuku (Harbour Watch), with the latter having defeated the former the last four times they had met.
But Waikuku failed to show anything like the dash that sealed the G1 Stewards’ Cup (1600m) in January. While Beauty Generation relished a pace-shadowing run on the rain-softened turf, his John Size-trained rival looked less than comfortable and found nothing when pressure was applied.
“He’s got soft track form,” Moore said of the winner. “The feet on him, big feet, and I think for an older guy like that, just that little bit of cushion does him a world of good – he loved it.”
Chad Schofield kicked Ka Ying Star (Cityscape) to a two-length lead approaching the home straight but Zac Purton remained patient on Beauty Generation. The Australian allowed the two-time Hong Kong Horse of the Year to reel in the leader without urging and when the arms began to pump at the 250m point, the powerful bay responded.
The seven-year-old rallied to the fight when Southern Legend (Not A Single Doubt) edged into view on his outer and imposed his well-earned authority through the final 100m, with Purton relaxing his biceps for the final two strides.
“One thing I like – when Zac got off he said when they came on him, he showed some of his old fighting heart; he said he just knuckled down, he kicked and if the old boy is feeling in that sort of mood coming to the Champions Mile he has to be right there,” Moore said.
“He couldn’t have blown a match out, there’s no improvement in him, we have him as fit as we can get him.”
Purton was delighted with the horse he has now paired with for 15 of 18 wins, including seven of his eight at the highest level. This 18th victory equalled Silent Witness’s career win haul, as well as the total wins achieved by the prolific 1970s galloper Super Win (Piccadilly Lane).
“I suppose the most pleasing part was at the 200-metre mark when they challenged him and he fought them off. He’s got a little bit of spark about him again,” the three-time champion jockey said.
“The way Ka Ying Star set a sensible pace was a big difference this time – he was rated well, didn’t go along too fast. But he upped the tempo about 700 metres for home and I didn’t want to chase him at that point, I just wanted to keep my horse on the bit and let him build his confidence – he was able to do that.”
Purton was just a hint less coy than usual about whether or not the win had increased his confidence that Beauty Generation will confirm the victory in the Champions Mile.
“Ah, a little bit,” he said, before going on to complete a treble on the day.
Ka Ying Star held on for second with Southern Legend third – both half a length back – the winning time was 1m 33.49s.
Waikuku, having his first start since January, passed the post sixth of seven, four and three-quarter lengths behind the winner.
“I think he probably felt the long space between runs because he put on a bit of condition. He wasn’t able to finish off the race, he was weakening,” jockey Joao Moreira said.
Beauty Generation, Hong Kong’s joint-highest rated horse in history, extended his all-time prize money record to HK$100,422,500 (approximately AUD$21.59 million).
“That’s a target to set!” Moore said. “The prize-money will have to go up for a horse ever to do that! My own target for him was 120 million but it needed a win in Dubai to get there.”
The FWD Champions Mile on April 26 carries a purse of HK$20 million with HK$11.4 million to the winner. With the ongoing coronavirus situation making the participation of overseas horses unlikely, Beauty Generation stands a good chance of pulling off the hat-trick – but he might have to see off another rising star, the brilliant BMW Hong Kong Derby winner Golden Sixty (Medaglia d’Oro).
“I’m worried!” Moore admitted. “Golden Sixty is an exceptional racehorse on the up. He’s got age on his side, he hits the line seriously strongly, so it’s making for a great race and that’s what the world wants to see. He’s the new boy on the block and now he’s got to do it but I have to say, he puts a bit of fright into the team.”
Golden Sixty’s trainer Francis Lui is expected to make a decision in the next week about his exciting charge’s Champions Day participation.
Voyage Warrior runs away with the Sprint Cup
Voyage Warrior (Declaration Of War) went a long way to fulfilling his prodigious potential with a make-all win in the second of the features, the Sprint Cup (Gr 2, 1200m) yesterday.
The 23/1 shot relished the rain-affected turf and dominated his seven rivals under an inspired Vincent Ho. But 10 lengths adrift of victory’s heady rush, the 1.8 favourite Aethero (Sebring) trailed in last after he over-raced and then suffered a rough passage on the home turn.
Voyage Warrior was never headed and sprinted down the straight to finish three-quarters of a length in front of runner-up Hot King Prawn (Denman) in a time of 1:09.48.
“It wasn’t the plan to lead but my horse pinged the gate and everyone else was holding, they didn’t want to lead, so I just gave him a soft lead and he ran home strongly,” Ho said.
“He enjoyed that ground a lot and he was so relaxed in front. Ricky’s horses are doing very well, the young ones too.”
Trainer Ricky Yiu – one win clear at the head of the trainers’ premiership – piled praise on the rider, who is fresh off completing a clean-sweep of the Four-Year-Old Classic Series aboard BMW Hong Kong Derby hero Golden Sixty.
“He’s a good jockey!” Yiu enthused as Ho and Voyage Warrior returned to unsaddle. “When you have a good jockey, you don’t tie them down to instructions – they always have Plan A, Plan B, even Plan C, depending on how the horse jumps, he knows if the horse is racing too strong or whatever – the good jockey uses his own judgement.”
Voyage Warrior burst onto the scene last term with three wins from four starts, achieved in blistering fashion, but this term he had mixed his form with one win from five prior to today’s first tilt at Group company.
“He’s maturing and that has meant he’s had some ups and downs, he’s had bad patches, but he’s improving and each time he’s gone over 1200 metres he’s run better,” Yiu said.
The four-year-old has spent time in the relative tranquility of the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Conghua facility and the handler credited that experience as being a key factor in the gelding achieving his first high-class win.
“He’s been to Conghua – he’s been there about three to four weeks and he’s much more relaxed now, he’s not pulling like he was.”
Yiu expects to pitch his emerging talent into the Chairman’s Sprint Prize (Gr 1, 1200m) at FWD Champions Day on April 26, when he is likely to lock horns again with Hot King Prawn and Aethero.
“We’ll keep him over 1200 (metres),” he said. “He’ll be against the same horses in the Group 1 next time. He’s going to go up a lot in the ratings but it doesn’t matter now, he’s in the Group races.”
After the high of Beauty Generation’s earlier G2 Chairman’s Trophy win, John Moore had to endure the frustration of seeing everything go wrong for his prized sprinter Aethero.
The three-year-old was having his first start since a fine third in the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (Gr 1, 1200m) back in December. And, just as when beaten in Class 2 first-up this term, the chestnut fought for his head when Zac Purton attempted to settle him behind heels.
It didn’t help that Aethero found stablemate and eventual third Thanks Forever (Duporth) blocking his progress on the turn for home but his chance was already blown by then.
“He missed the start and once he missed the start he got chopped out and that was the end of it. That’s the way we know things will go if he gets back in the field, he won’t relax. I just hope he doesn’t do it in the Group 1,” Moore said.
“Thanks Forever ran to expectations, he enjoyed the ground.”
Joao Moreira appeared deflated in defeat but was pleased with Hot King Prawn’s effort in running second.
“He’s honest, he tries his best and he is a good horse,” the Brazilian said. “I think the winner had everything go his way – my horse just ended up being in a spot that meant he didn’t have a perfect race, particularly in the straight, when I was trying to come on his outside I had to switch back in. I wouldn’t say it cost me the race but I would say it cost me ground. I’m happy with his effort and we know what is there for him in the future.”