Hong Kong Favorite Beauty Generation To Retire In Special Ceremony At Sha Tin Jan. 24

Beauty Generation, one of the greatest champions in the history of Hong Kong racing, will be farewelled in a special ceremony on Sunday, 24 January.

Twice Hong Kong's Horse of the Year, Beauty Generation will return to Sha Tin Racecourse  – the scene of all of his extraordinary career highlights – for one final appearance before flying to Australia for a life of retirement at Living Legends in Melbourne.

The New Zealand-bred gelding, who was crowned Hong Kong Champion Miler an unmatched three times, won 18 races from 34 starts in Hong Kong and earned HK$106,233,750, making him the highest-ever prize money earner in Hong Kong history.

The eight-year-old, who finished his racing career with a gallant fifth behind Golden Sixty in the G1 Longines Hong Kong Mile on 13 December, bows out with eight G1 triumphs, five G2 successes and three G3 wins.

Additionally, he holds two course records at Sha Tin over 1,600 meters and 2,200 meters, having also once posted the fastest 1,400 meter time at the track. No horse in the history of Hong Kong racing has more wins in a single season than Beauty Generation, who posted eight wins through 2018-19.

Owner Patrick Kwok said: “Beauty Generation is the horse of a lifetime. He was a champion and we are indebted to the great bravery and determination which allowed him to scale the greatest heights.

“His many G1 wins, track records and horse of the year accolades serve as a worthy measure of his phenomenal qualities.

“We have been privileged and blessed by our association with a truly wonderful horse who has been cared for so brilliantly by John Moore, David Hayes, Zac Purton, Derek Leung as well as the stable staff. We are also honoured to own such a great horse that contributed in cementing Hong Kong racing on the world stage.

“We would also like to thank all the fans who support Beauty Generation from Hong Kong and overseas.”

“We farewell Beauty Generation with immense gratitude and a pledge to visit him eventually in his new home at Living Legends in Melbourne.”

John Moore – who is also soon bound for Australia – said: “Any horse who can go from 1,400 meters to 2,200 meters and break a track record must have a lot of ability because champions like him can do it over short and long,” Moore said.

“His toughness, his fighting spirit but he was a very sound horse – I don't even remember times when I had to go in with the vet, he was such a sound champion and that was one of his biggest assets – it held him in good stead throughout his career.”

Beauty Generation achieved the equal-highest international rating for a Hong Kong horse, joint at 127 along with Able Friend on the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings. He was allotted that mark in both 2018 and 2019 and was honoured as the world's leading specialist turf miler in both years.

Zac Purton, who will be on hand to say goodbye to Beauty Generation, remains in awe of the great champion's performance against an all-star cast of international G1 winners from Japan, Great Britain, Australia and Hong Kong in the 2018 G1 Longines Hong Kong Mile.

“He's the special one really, every jockey hopes that a horse like him comes along in their career and luckily for me he has and I've enjoyed the ride – he was a wonderful horse,” Purton said.  “There's many highlights but if I had to pick one, I'd say it was his 2018 Hong Kong Mile win, he drew a wide gate, they made him work into the first corner and it was a very strong field – Vivlos, as well as a number of other runners were in the race and he won by three lengths eased down.”

The ceremony will be broadcast during Sha Tin's prestige meeting on Sunday, 24 January which features the G1 Stewards' Cup (1600m) – a race Beauty Generation won in 2019 – as well as the G1 Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m) and Hong Kong Classic Mile.

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Beauty Generation Retired

Beauty Generation (NZ) (Road to Rock {Aus}–Stylish Bel {Aus}, by Bel Esprit {Aus}), a two-time Hong Kong Horse of the Year and only horse to surpass the HK$100 mark in career earnings, has been retired after his fifth in Sunday’s G1 Longines Hong Kong Mile. He will live out his days at Living Legends in Victoria, Australia, alongside other Hong Kong retirees Silent Witness (Aus), Mr Stunning (Aus) and California Memory, among others.

Bred by Nearco Stud Ltd., Beauty Generation was purchased for NZ$60,000 by Kylie Bax’s Hermes Syndications from the Highden Park draft at the NZB National Yearling Sale in 2014 and was sent to race in Australia. Trained by Anthony Cummings as Montaigne, the bay gelding won two of seven starts, including a runner-up effort in the G1 Rosehill Guineas, prior to his purchase by the Kwok Family.

Prepared in Hong Kong by John Moore, Beauty Generation was third to his late stablemate Rapper Dragon (Aus) (Street Boss) in the 2017 BMW Hong Kong Derby and set (and still holds) a track record for 2200 metres, but was reinvented as a 1400-1600m horse for the 2017-2018 season. He carried Derek Leung to a 15-2 upset in the 2017 G1 Longines Hong Kong Mile and Zac Purton was in the irons when wiring the field in the 2018 G1 Champions Mile.

The latter race was the start of an 18-month stretch where nothing could come close to Beauty Generation. In that time he amassed 10 consecutive wins, going back-to-back in the Hong Kong Mile (see below) and the Champions Mile and he peaked on a domestic rating of 138 following a first-up success in the G3 Celebration Cup H. Third in search of a three-peat in the 2019 Hong Kong Mile, he retained his zest for racing to post a second score in the G1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m) last February.  The last of his 18 local victories came in the G2 Chairman’s Trophy in April. David Hayes trained Beauty Generation for three starts this season following Moore’s retirement.

“I knew it may be on the table,” said Purton, who rode the champion 28 times. “It’s a bittersweet day. It’s a sad end. He’s been the best horse for me in my career. I’m certainly going to miss him. He was brave again [in Sunday’s Mile]  and wherever he may go in the world, I’m sure I’ll go and visit him in his paddock one day.”

 

WATCH: Beauty Generation defends his title in the 2018 Hong Kong Mile

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‘Resurrect An Old Champion’: Beauty Generation Chasing Third Hong Kong Mile Victory

David Hayes will attempt to emulate the career-ending Cox Plate glories of retired Australian warhorse Fields Of Omagh on Sunday, when he sends out Beauty Generation in an attempt to annex a third HK$25 million (US$3.23 million) Grade 1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile at Sha Tin.

Hayes famously sent Fields Of Omagh into retirement after the 9-year-old snared Australia's premier G1 weight-for-age contest – the Cox Plate – at Moonee Valley in 2006 to cap his career in a blaze of glory.

The comparisons to Beauty Generation, twice Hong Kong Horse of the Year, are not lost on Hayes, who inherited the decorated 8-year-old after John Moore's retirement last year.

In two runs for Hayes, the 2017 and 2018 Hong Kong Mile winner has had his colors lowered by Hong Kong's boom galloper Golden Sixty, dead-heated for second in the G3 Celebration Cup (1400m, seven furlongs) before running sixth in the G2 Oriental Watch Sha Tin Trophy Handicap (1600m, one mile).

Fields Of Omagh had won just one of 12 starts before tackling – and conquering – the Cox Plate for a second victory. Hayes took over the gelding from Tony McEvoy after returning to Australia from Hong Kong in 2005.

Hayes retains faith Beauty Generation can revive the uplifting memories of Fields Of Omagh's farewell performance.

“It would be wonderful to win with him, especially if you could resurrect an old champion like Beauty Generation,” Hayes said after the gelding cantered on the inner track at Sha Tin on Thursday.

“He reminds me – and he's more high-profile – of an old Fields Of Omagh going into his last Cox Plate, doing everything right but overlooked and under-rated by the market.

“This horse is going to start well overs which is quite ironic because up until the last 12 months, he's been favorite in everything he's raced in.

“The guy who rides him, Romain (Clavreul), who has ridden him all his life, says he feels as good as ever, which is really encouraging.

“We've taken a fresh approach. We elected not to give him a lead-up race or a trial. He's just had three nice gallops on the course proper over the last month and I'm really happy with his level of fitness and he looks fantastic.”

Beauty Generation finished third in last year's Hong Kong Mile behind Japan's Admire Mars, who returns to defend his crown.

Hayes said a decision on Beauty Generation's future would not necessarily hinge on Sunday's performance.

“If he runs competitive, he'll certainly keep racing on,” he said.

“If he disappointed, it (retirement) would be considered, but I would think they would love to run him in the 1400m G1 (the Queens Silver Jubilee Cup) that he won last year – his last win.

“But if he's racing well, I can't see any reason why he wouldn't keep going.”

Beauty Generation will start from barrier three under Zac Purton as he attempts to match Good Ba Ba's feat (2007-09) of winning the Mile three times.

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6-Year-Old Exultant Named Hong Kong Horse Of The Year

Exultant's outstanding exploits during the 2019/20 season earned the multiple Group 1 victor the Hong Kong Horse of the Year award at a special presentation function held at Sha Tin Racecourse on Thursday, July 16.

The Tony Cruz-trained 6-year-old was also named Champion Middle-Distance Horse and Champion Stayer for the second consecutive year.

Exultant is the first horse since River Verdon in 1991/92 to win the Horse of the Year title in the same season as capturing both the G1 FWD Queen Elizabeth II Cup and the G1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup. Only two other Hong Kong champions, Top Grade and Quicken Away, have achieved the same feat.

The five-time G1 winner showed uncommon class and resolution during the campaign, in which he finished in the frame in all of his seven starts. In addition to his two G1 wins, the Teofilo gelding also took the G2 Jockey Club Cup and the G3 Centenary Vase Handicap, and was placed in the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Vase, the G1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup and the G3 Sa Sa Ladies' Purse Handicap.

Golden Sixty was the deserving winner of the newly-introduced Four-Year-Old Champion award. The Francis Lui-trained galloper became only the second horse after Rapper Dragon to win all three legs of the Four-Year-Old Classic Series, including the BMW Hong Kong Derby.

The Medaglia d'Oro gelding went through the season unbeaten with seven wins, and also tasted his first Group success in the G3 Chinese Club Challenge Cup Handicap. Lui's stable star matched brilliance with versatility, with his wins ranging from 1200m to 2000m.

Golden Sixty also secured the bulk of the public vote to claim the Most Popular Horse title.

Two-time Hong Kong Horse of the Year Beauty Generation lost his outright crown but was named Champion Miler for a remarkable third season in a row. The Road To Rock seven-year-old remained a significant force at the highest level, and completed a hat-trick of wins in the G1 Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup. John Moore's stable standout also won the G3 Celebration Cup for the third time in succession; and earned three G1 placings with his seconds in the Stewards' Cup and the FWD Champions Mile, and third in the LONGINES Hong Kong Mile.

Beat The Clock was named the season's Champion Sprinter for the second year. The John Size-trained six-year-old was a dual G1 victor this term, claiming the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint and the Centenary Sprint Cup, a race he also won in the 2018/19 season. The Hinchinbrook gelding continued to be a model of consistency with two wins, one third and one fifth from just four starts this term.

Good Luck Friend was named the season's Champion Griffin after securing four wins from six starts. The Ricky Yiu-trained three-year-old achieved his career highlight to date in a Class 3 1200m at Sha Tin, defeating seasoned gallopers to achieve a rating of 85.

The Jimmy Ting-trained Amazing Star was named the season's Most Improved Horse. He started the campaign on a rating of 58 and rocketed 42 points to a mark of 100 after four wins in just six starts.

Ricky Yiu was honored with the Champion Trainer title. The battle for the championship was settled at the season finale and Yiu was most deserving of his first title, having led for most of the season and repelled all challengers with a final total of 67 wins.

Zac Purton was crowned Champion Jockey for a fourth time. The Australian rider had a fantastic season of achievements, including becoming the only rider in history to have won every Group 1 race on the Hong Kong calendar thanks to Exultant's score in the FWD QEII Cup.

Vincent Ho won the Tony Cruz Award as the season's leading homegrown rider and also won the public vote to earn the Most Popular Jockey of the Year accolade.

Retiring trainer John Moore was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his great contribution to Hong Kong racing over almost 50 years.

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