Beauty Generation (NZ) Towers Over Opposition Again

At the 2014 Select Sale at Karaka, $60,000 was enough to buy a future megastar of Hong Kong racing.

His name is Beauty Generation (NZ) (Road to Rock), and at Sha Tin on Sunday he continued his dominant reign with another easy victory in the HK$4.25 million Group 2 Chairman’s Trophy (1600m).

It was the eighth consecutive win for the reigning Hong Kong Horse of the Year, whose overall record now stands at 29 starts for 16 wins and more than HK$74.5 million – the equivalent of more than NZ$14 million, which is 233 times his purchase price.

“The horse loves where he is and doesn’t like getting beat,” trainer John Moore said. “Even when he’s on the small track every morning, he wants to pass horses. He’s just amazing.”

Ridden as usual by champion Australian jockey Zac Purton, the all-conquering six-year-old cruised to the lead in the first 150 metres of the race. The result never really looked in doubt from there as Beauty Generation kicked clear in the straight and scored by an easy length and a quarter.

“He had to carry extra weight and the one thing I was more concerned about was the wind,” Purton said. “The headwind down the back-straight is really strong. Having to carry the extra weight – giving weight away to the other horses – it wasn’t going to be easy.

“He came into this race a little bit soft today. He had a soft trial and he hasn’t been screwed in his work, so he was always going to improve on what he gave us today, so there’s more merit in the win than it may have looked. He went out there and did what we needed him to do.”

Beauty Generation is now the winner of 12 of his last 15 starts. Sunday’s Chairman’s Trophy was his fourth Group 2 win, sitting alongside Group 1 victories in the Hong Kong Mile (1600m) twice, Champions Mile (1600m), Stewards’ Cup (1600m) and two editions of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m).

Beauty Generation was bred by Nearco Stud and was raised and sold by Highden Park.