Beauty Generation (NZ) (Road To Rock) brushed aside the younger challenger and shrugged off old rivals to win the Gr.2 Chairman’s Trophy (1600m) at Sha Tin, setting up the prospect of an unprecedented third victory in the Gr.1 FWD Champions Mile (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, and pushed his own record prize money haul past HK$100 million.
“He’s done that nicely leading into the Champions Mile. He’s 100 percent 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 Gr.1 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.
“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.
“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.
Beauty Generation, Hong Kong’s joint-highest rated horse in history, extended his all-time prize money record to HK$100,422,500.
The win was a fitting tribute to Beauty Generation’s sire Road To Rock who was humanely euthanized at his Wellfield Lodge home last week after succumbing to a lengthy battle with laminitis.
