Beauty Generation faces a weighty task as he prepares to land tomorrow’s (Tuesday, 1 October) G3 Celebration Cup Handicap (1400m) for the third year in a row.
Hong Kong’s superstar galloper will shoulder 133lb against his nine opponents and eight of those are rooted to the foot of the handicap, each with a feather-weight 113lb. Only Southern Legend, allotted 119lb, will carry more than the minimum.
But, as well as the big weight on his back, Beauty Generation’s declared body weight is the heaviest of his Hong Kong career. The seven-year-old has weighed in at 1,161lb for his first start of the season and that is 12lb heavier than his previous top, registered before last April’s G1 FWD Champions Mile.
Moore is not concerned.
“Like last season, he’s a little bit on the big side but it’s a starting point and he’s very healthy. When they get older they do carry a bit more condition so we’re not worried about that,” the trainer said.
And the experienced handler is further buoyed by the gelding’s final fast work at Sha Tin on Saturday. The seven-time G1 winner, unbeaten in his last nine starts, went 1200m on the all-weather track in 1m 23.7s.
“He worked well with his usual work rider Romain (Clavreul) on him and the feedback was positive,” Moore said.
“He’s giving away the 20 pounds to most of them but we still believe he’ll be very competitive, he’s the one they have to beat.”
Champion jockey Zac Purton will be in the plate on race day when Beauty Generation’s rivals will also include the first two home in last season’s BMW Hong Kong Derby, Furore and Waikuku, as well as the promising miler Ka Ying Star and the 2018 Hong Kong Classic Mile victor Nothingilikemore.
Tuesday’s action is scheduled to start at 1pm and also features the G3 National Day Cup Handicap (1000m), in which the likes of Little Giant, Rattan, Wishful Thinker and Full Of Beauty will lock horns.
