Beauty Generation in good spot for Horse of Year

HONG KONG - Beauty Generation completed a sweep of Hong Kong’s two leading mile races with a win in Sunday’s Champions Mile at Sha Tin. His victory on Sunday, and in the Hong Kong Mile on the prestigious international program last December, may lead to a Horse of the Year title.

The winner will not be announced until July, toward the end of the current season, but Beauty Generation won his third Group 1 race of the 2017-18 season in the Champions Mile. Between the two wins in one-mile races, Beauty Generation won the Group 1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup at seven furlongs on Feb. 25.

There are not many races left that will influence the Horse of the Year title. Even so, trainer John Moore was reluctant to make a prediction.

“We need to let a little more water under the bridge,” Moore said late Sunday afternoon.

Beauty Generation’s chances were helped when Time Warp, a two-time Group 1 winner during the current season, finished last in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup later Sunday.

A 5-year-old New Zealand-bred gelding, Beauty Generation has won 9 of 22 starts in a career that began in Australia in 2016.

“This is some iron New Zealand horse,” Moore said.

By his standards, the 68-year-old Moore has had a quiet season. He has won seven training titles in Hong Kong, most recently in 2014-15, but this season has 25 wins and is ranked 13th in the standings through Sunday. There are only 23 trainers in Hong Kong.

Through Sunday, Moore was ranked third in earnings for the current season behind leader John Size and Tony Cruz, whose stables also had Group 1 wins on Sunday.

“We haven’t had the number of winners, but we’ve done well with the Group 1 horses,” Moore said after Beauty Generation’s victory. “I think this is worth 10 or 20 winners. When you win this race, you don’t worry about the winner’s rate so much.”