Hong Kong Horses Ready for Foreign Competition

Hong Kong's top horses at Sha Tin Racecourse Nov. 17 showed they're more than ready for foreign raiders targeting the group 1 Longines Hong Kong International Races just three weeks down the road.

Local runners swept the board in the December extravaganza in 2018, winning all four group 1 races, and all four of those winners were back in action, prepping for repeat tries. Challengers from just down the shedrow, however, were strong enough that only one emerged victorious.

Hong Kong's reigning, two-time Horse of the Year, Beauty Generation, was among those not measuring up.

The star of the day in three group 2 Jockey Club events was Exultant, winner of the 2018 Longines Hong Kong Vase (G1) at 2,400 meters (about 1 1/2 miles). The 5-year-old Teofilo gelding came from behind pacesetting full brothers Glorious Forever and Time Warp in the Jockey Club Cup, found an extra burst in the late going, and ran on to win by 1 1/4 lengths over Furore, winner of last season's BMW Hong Kong Derby.

Southern Legend was third in the Jockey Club Cup, and Glorious Forever, reigning champ in the Longines Hong Kong Cup, faded from contention to finish last of nine.

Exultant finished in a tidy 1:59.77 for 2,000 meters (about 1 1/4 miles). There is no local prep for the Vase distance.

"Everything has gone smoothly this season," said Exultant's trainer, Tony Cruz. "I'm very happy with his condition, and he seems to be a better horse this year."

That would be quite the claim, based on the form of last year's Vase. The runner-up in that race, Lys Gracieux, went on to win the Oct. 26 Ladbrokes Cox Plate (G1) while Waldgeist, who was fifth in the 2018 Vase, got the better of Enable Oct. 6 in the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1) at ParisLongchamp.

In the Jockey Club Mile (G2), 7-year-old Beauty Generation suffered a second straight defeat, this time without the significant weight differential and traffic issues that provided handy excuses for the earlier loss.

Waikuku, a 4-year-old Harbour Watch gelding with Joao Moreira up, had little trouble running down Beauty Generation in the closing stages of the race as the two-time Longines Hong Kong Mile (G1) winner was unable to generate his trademark late kick after leading into the stretch. Ka Ying Star, who ran second behind Beauty Generation through the early stages of the race, finished second.

Waikuku and Beauty Generation finished second and third, respectively, behind Rise High Oct. 20 in the Oriental Watch Sha Tin Trophy (G2). In another indication of the level of the local competition, Rise High finished fourth in the Jockey Club Cup. Nonetheless, Waikuku's trainer, John Size, said the circumstances of the December race still could play to Beauty Generation's benefit.

"Beauty Generation will still have his fans and he's going to run under different circumstances on the big day, so I think he'll probably hold his place," Size said. "He'll be the horse to beat again."

Size and Moreira confirmed Waikuku will stay at the mile distance Dec. 8, rather than moving up to the Longines Hong Kong Cup at 2,000 meters.

"I would never think about changing the distance with the way he's done it today," Moreira said. "Probably the mile won't be as strong as the Hong Kong Cup, because Almond Eye is coming for the 2000-meter race and she's one of the best in the world at the moment. I'm happy to ride my bloke in the mile."

The Jockey Club Sprint (G2) at 1,200 meters (about six furlongs) confirmed Aethero as a budding star on the Hong Kong scene. The Southern Hemisphere 3-year-old benefited from a weight swing from his rivals, including all the top resident sprinters. But he didn't look like he needed the advantage.

With Keris Teetan riding, Aethero shot right to the front and won by two lengths. Hot King Prawn was second, with Beat the Clock third. Mr Stunning, winner of the last two runnings of the Longines Hong Kong Sprint (G1), finished eighth in his first start of the season.

Trainer John Moore predicted the course record might be at risk, and Aethero almost proved him right, just missing with a final time of 1:07.58, eight-hundredths of a second shy of the mark.

"We'll go to the Hong Kong Sprint now and it's an international group 1, so his work will be cut out," Moore said. "But you can't ask anything more, and he'll still have a nice weight concession."

Aethero will carry 117 pounds based on age as his rivals tote 126.

The Jockey Club Sprint had its share of drama. First, Pingwu Spark declined to load and was scratched behind the gate. Then Pakistan Star, a two-time group 1 winner, returned to his old habits. Shortly after breaking with the field, despite the best efforts of rider Blake Shinn, Pakistan Star pulled himself up to a stop, a trick he perfected two seasons earlier.