Beauty Generation going for eighth straight victory in Chairman's Trophy at Sha Tin

John Moore trains the Hong Kong superstar Beauty Generation, and Moore hoped he and his horse would be out on the road last weekend racing in the $6 million Dubai Turf. Patrick Kwok Ho Chuen owns Beauty Generation, and the Kwok family had other ideas.

Moore, following Beauty Generation’s excellent win in the Hong Kong Mile on Dec. 9, was ready to go out and take on the world. But owners call the shots in the end, and the Kwoks were perfectly content to continue campaigning Hong Kong’s best horse – in Hong Kong. Beauty Generation since the Hong Kong Mile has added a three-length victory in the Group 1 Stewards Cup and a 1 3/4-length win in the Group 1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee, and he will be heavily favored to win his eighth race in a row when he starts in the Group 2, $541,000 Chairman’s Trophy.

The Chairman’s Trophy (race 7 of 10, post time 4:25 a.m. Eastern) formally shares top billing on the program with the Group 2, $541,000 Sprint Cup (race 3), but Beauty Generation is the obvious headliner on the day. Hong Kong’s Horse of the Year is prepping for the Group 1 Champions Mile on April 28 and gives weight to all rivals Sunday save Pakistan Star, but few would forecast an upset given Beauty Generation’s dominance this Hong Kong season. Not only is he undefeated and clearly the ruler of the mile roost, he stepped down in trip to 1,400 meters last out and still won comfortably. Moore has expressed nothing but optimism coming into the race, and while the racing world at large might have enjoyed seeing Beauty Generation take on the Japanese filly Almond Eye in Dubai, his owners want to get their picture taken again at Sha Tin.

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Also in the field is Pakistan Star, who races for the first time since being transferred from longtime trainer Tony Cruz to the care of Paul O’Sullivan. Pakistan Star once was his own worst enemy, failing to race professionally in a number of ways, but now, at age 6, and from the look of his form this season, age might have overtaken mercurial temperament as Pakistan Star’s leading obstacle. In fact, it will be Conte who is accorded the best chance at taking down the favorite in the Chairman’s Trophy.

Beat the Clock ran into Beauty Generation on Feb. 17, finishing second in the Queen’s Jubilee, and his task Saturday in the Sprint Cup is no easier with Mr. Stunning opposing. Beat the Clock handled Mr. Stunning when the two met Jan. 20 in the Centenary Sprint Cup over the same 1200-meter trip they race Sunday, but the margin was a nose, and at level weights there is very little between the two Sunday.

◗ Waikuku, whose four-race winning streak ended with a second-place finish as the favorite last month in the Hong Kong Derby, races for the first time since that defeat in a Class 1 handicap carded as race 9 Sunday. Waikuku, one of two top-rated horses at 108, races 2,000 meters, the same trip as the Derby, where he rallied from 13th under regular rider Joao Moreira, who has the mount again Sunday for trainer John Size.