Beauty Generation, Hot King Prawn take Sha Tin co-features

Beauty Generation and Hot King Prawn won the co-featured Group 2 races Sunday at Sha Tin, though victory by the former might have stronger major-race implications than the success of the latter.

Beauty Generation carried top weight of 133 pounds, including jockey Zac Purton, and took pressure from talented Time Warp down the backstretch and around the turn of the 1600-meter Oriental Watch Sha Tin Trophy, a handicap with a $541,950 purse. But Beauty Generation shrugged off his pace rival, went clear in midstretch, and comfortably held clear a decent run from Singapore Sling to win by a half-length while giving 16 pounds to the runner-up.

In third was huge longshot Eagle Way, who ran his best race in a long time, coming between a large gap past the 300-meter mark to finish fastest before galloping out in front. Behind Eagle Way came second-favorite Pakistan Star, who got a perfectly typical trip for a normal racehorse but a highly unusual one for him. Pakistan Star is a notoriously slow starter and made his name as a Silky Sullivan-style one-run closer, but he popped out of the gate nearly in front Sunday and took up a tracking position just behind the speed. But Pakistan Star raced too keenly in his first race of the year and went one-paced the final furlong, just holding fourth over solidly closing Exultant.

As for the John Moore-trained winner, he solidified his status as Hong Kong’s top miler and the leading local hope for the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile in December, a race he won in 2017. Moore said Beauty Generation would race Nov. 18 in the Jockey Club Mile as a Hong Kong Mile prep and mentioned the Group 1 Dubai Duty Free over 1800 meters as a longer-term goal. Six-year-old gelding Beauty Generation is by Road to Rock out of Stylish Bel, by Bel Esprit.

Hot King Prawn, meanwhile, won his third race in a row and eighth from nine Hong Kong starts when leading virtually all the way in the $541,950 Premier Bowl Handicap. Hot King Prawn, with Sam Clipperton riding for trainer John Size, had made a successful stakes debut winning a Group 3 over a straight 1000 meters on Oct. 1, and here ran equally well over 1200 meters around a turn.

But there are two reasons to take his 1 1/4-length win over Fifty Fifty and Mr. Stunning with a grain of salt. First, his favored stablemate Ivictory ran far below form, fading to last after pressing the winner to the 300-meter mark. A post-race veterinary exam found nothing obvi-ously amiss with the gelding, nor could Size or jockey Zac Purton offer an obvious excuse, but Ivictory, thought to be Hong Kong’s leading sprinter, must run in a barrier trial to the satisfaction of the stewards before he can start again. Second, Hot King Prawn’s rating lagged behind several more established starters in the Premier Bowl and his 122-pound impost was six pounds lighter than Fifty Five’s, while Mr. Stunning toted 133 pounds.

Four-year-old Aussie-bred Hot King Prawn is by Denman out of the Unbridled’s Song mare, De Chorus.

Earlier on the card, Glorious Forever, a 4-year-old brother to Time Warp, won his third straight race when he galloped to a front-running victory in a Class 2 handicap over 1800 meters. Glorious Forever could be stepped up to stakes competition next month with an eye toward the Hong Kong Cup in December.