Hong Kong: Jockey Club Mile a three-way rematch

The first three home in the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile last December – Beauty Only, Helene Paragon, and Joyful Trinity – top a 12-horse field for the Group 2, $512,187 Jockey Club Mile on Sunday at Sha Tin Racecourse.

The Jockey Club Mile is the last of three prep races Sunday for the Hong Kong International races on Dec. 10, and is immediately preceded by the Group 2, $512,187 Jockey Club Sprint over about six furlongs and the Group 2, $512,187 Jockey Club Cup over about 1 1/4 miles. Post time for the Jockey Club, the first of the group races, is 2:30 a.m. Eastern while the 10-race card starts at midnight Eastern.

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Beauty Only won the Hong Kong Mile by a half-length over a somewhat troubled Helene Paragon, but has been slow to come around this season, finishing fifth and ninth in his two starts and leaving jockey Zac Purton somewhat concerned after his most recent training race.

“I’d have liked him to have finished off his trial a bit better the other day,” Purton told the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

Helene Paragon, one of three in the race for trainer John Moore, was seventh Oct. 22 in his season’s debut and should certainly build off that performance, but with Moore surely hoping to have Beauty Paragon at a peak next month, the horse is highly unlikely to turn in a top effort. Joyful Trinity was said by Moore to have trialed very well for Sunday’s race, but it is the Moore-trained Beauty Generation who might have the most appeal Sunday. Five-year-old Beauty Generation showed promise in his first Hong Kong season but has hit a new level this year after a change in tactics and a cutback in distance has put him on or near the lead. He gets five pounds from the Group 1 winners on Sunday, as does recent ratings-riser Western Express as well as Season’s Bloom, second to Beauty Generation last out.

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Lucky Bubbles and Mr Stunning head a cast of familiar names in the Jockey Club Sprint. Five-year-old Mr Stunning got home a half-length in front of Lucky Bubbles in the Oct. 22 Premier Bowl, and might well be the equal now of 6-year-old Lucky Bubbles, who was an unlucky second last year in the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint, the Dec. 10 race for which this is a prep. Sunday’s field also includes capable Notlistenin’tome, who won the 2016 Jockey Club Sprint but comes off a poor showing, as well as the Thewizardofoz.

Werther, the local favorite for the Hong Kong Cup next month, tops a field of eight for the Jockey Club Cup. As a Group 1 winner he gives five pounds to all his rivals, though Werther should improve considerably off a one-mile comeback run in his season’s debut.