Southern Legend wins battle with Beauty Generation in Champions Mile

The coronavirus pandemic prevented Southern Legend from traveling to Singapore from Hong Kong to try and win his third straight Kranji Cup. Instead, he stayed home and denied Beauty Generation his third straight Champions Mile – but just barely.

Southern Legend had all the momentum 200 meters out as he roared outside of Beauty Generation to take the lead, but Beauty Generation didn’t back down. Beauty Generation’s raw ability might have ebbed since he won his second Champions Mile in 2019, but his heart’s the same size, and no sooner did Southern Legend hit the front than Beauty Generation surged again. He banged back to the lead 50 meters from the line, but as the pair hit it together it was Southern Legend’s head thrust forward. He won by a nose.

Southern Legend is no young upstart. Like Beauty Generation he’s a 7-year-old who has made 30 Hong Kong starts after beginning his career in Australia, where Southern Legend raced nine times. Southern Legend has kept top Hong Kong company for three seasons (he was third in Beauty Generation’s 2018 Champion’s Mile), never coming close to Beauty Generation’s zenith but generally racing competitively at a wide range of distances. He was a 10-1 shot facing seven foes Sunday, but this was no soft race as the top two flew home after a moderate first half.

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Ka Ying Star lit off to lead, tracked by Beauty Generation through an opening 400 meters in 24.56 seconds, about par for the class level. The second 400 went in 23.14, also about standard, upon which the real running began. Zac Purton on Beauty Generation sat quietly past the 600-meter mark, still waited at the 500 as Ka Ying Star continued towing him along, and then had to really hit the gas at the 400-meter mark. About a furlong earlier, jockey Vincent Ho had peeled Southern Legend off the fence and guided him outside and into the clear, and when Purton looked over his right shoulder, the finish a quarter-mile off, there was Southern Legend.

The narrative of the last several months says that Beauty Generation has lost a step since his winning streak ended at 10 last October, but maybe Beauty Generation has just shifted his race dynamics. He used to blow races open with brilliant second and third 400-meter splits, still finishing fast enough to hold everyone off. Sunday, he got his final 800 meters in a breathtaking 45.28, possibly his fastest such split ever and including a final 400 in 22.04. His final 400 winning this race last year was 22.36, and it was 22.96 in 2018. The problem for Beauty Generation was Southern Legend’s even stronger run to the wire Sunday, when he got his last 800 in 44.79, his final 400 in 21.91. So, yes, Southern Legend took down a former champ with a graying beard, past the peak of his power, but he ran like a crazy horse doing it.

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For Ho, a Hong Kong local rising through the jockey ranks, it was a first Group 1 success.

“This is all about Vincent,” said winning trainer Caspar Fownes. “He deserves that more than anyone . . . To get it on my horse, that’s extra special.”

Southern Legend was worth $21.40 to win on the North American tote and clocked a strong 1:33.13 over a course rated good that appeared to be somewhat chewed up.

Waikuku broke near the front but wound up racing from the rear of the field, rallying inside to finish a non-threatening third. Rattan finished fourth, a nose behind Waikuku, and More Than This, undone again by his lack of positional pace, was a fast-finishing fifth.