Southern Legend Tops Hong Kong Champions Day

The Sha Tin grandstand would have been rocking had fans been allowed into the racecourse as Southern Legend beat Beauty Generation by a head bob in the FWD Champions Mile (G1)—the feature among three group 1 races April 26.

Although the Hong Kong stands were empty because of the pandemic restrictions, and no foreign horses contested the races, there was no shortage of drama. Exultant won the FWD Queen Elizabeth II Cup (G1), and Mr Stunning stunned the punters with a big upset in the Chairman's Sprint Prize (G1).

The mixed results left this season's Horse of the Year title up for grabs with only a single group 1 race yet to be run. Beauty Generation, the winner of that honor the past two seasons and one of the best that Hong Kong punters have ever cheered, was making a case for a three-peat in the Champions Mile.

Beauty Generation ran his race under Zac Purton, chasing the speed and surging to the lead early in the stretch run. Southern Legend, under up-and-coming rider Vincent Ho, rallied wide from near the back of the eight-horse field to challenge with 200 meters to run, and the two raced as a team to the finish.

It could have gone either way, and it took the stop-action camera to find Southern Legend's nose on the line first.

Waikuku, who finished in front of Beauty Generation four times this season before the champion regained his mojo, settled for third this time around as the race, which started at a leisurely pace, finished with a flourish in 1:33.13.

Southern Legend originally wasn't even scheduled to contest the race. He was readying for next month's Kranji Mile (G1) in Singapore—a race he has won the past two years—but the COVID-19 restrictions canceled that plan, and the Champions Mile was a convenient backup.

"The boss (trainer Caspar Fownes) had prepared him for Singapore, so I always felt he'd pick up really well," Ho said. "Last run, he ran really well, so I thought I could get close to Beauty Generation.

"I didn't jump that sharply … but I got a good spot, and the pace was actually quite slow. Southern Legend had won at 1,800, and he'd gone 2,000 meters as well, so when they went that slowly, I decided to take off at the 600 and he got a really good kick and sustained it to the end."

Fownes said there's no thought of retiring the 7-year-old Not A Single Doubt gelding, adding, "I haven't told him he's turning 8 in August yet, so we'll keep that a bit of a secret."

Fownes also was full of praise for Ho, who scored his first group 1 win but also piloted Golden Sixty to sweep this season's 4-year-old classic series, including the BMW Hong Kong Derby.

"He's been a great kid and he deserves all the success he can get, and I think hopefully next season, if the local trainers and all of us can get behind him, we can certainly put him up there to fight it out with Zac and Joao (Moreira)," Fownes said.

For Beauty Generation, that head bob may have cost him the chance to go out a winner, said trainer John Moore, whose forced retirement from Hong Kong racing at age 70 makes this his last season there before a planned move to Australia.

"I'd like to take him back for a mile race in Australia and then have him stay there at the Living Legends Farm," Moore said of the 7-year-old Road to Rock gelding. "That's what I'd like to do, but what the Kwok family (his owners) wants to do is what counts. I don't know whether they'll keep racing him or retire him."

The FWD Queen Elizabeth II Cup lacked the tight finish of the Champions Mile but had plenty of drama of a different sort.

Exultant, admittedly not at the peak of his form, benefited in the FWD Queen Elizabeth II Cup from a canny ride by Purton. The 6-year-old Teofilo gelding was nipped in his previous outing, the Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (G1), by stablemate Time Warp, who got away on the lead and wasn't caught. This time, Purton put Exultant into the race midway down the riverside backstretch, pressured Time Warp for the lead, and made it a two-horse race even before they hit the turn.

Time Warp bowed to the pressure, leaving Exultant on a daylight lead. But he too was running on fumes and had to grind things out to win by three-quarters of a length over 2019 BMW Hong Kong Derby champion Furore. Eagle Way and Playa Del Puente rallied for third and fourth, with Time Warp fading to fifth. The 2,000 meters (about 1 1/4 miles) went in 2:00.

Purton, whose victory made him the only rider to land all of Hong Kong's group 1 events, said he knew he couldn't let Time Warp steal a march this time around, but also knew he'd emptied the tank with a bit of grass yet to mow.

"I was flat. I was empty. I wasn't that confident," Purton said. "My fella, at the 300-meter mark, was just starting to struggle a little bit. Down to the 200, I knew there was a horse coming, and I could sense my bloke was at his bottom. He didn't have anything else, so I was certainly worried. But my guy, he just kept galloping along and did enough."

Trainer Tony Cruz saddled both Exultant and Furore and said both will go on to the final group 1 event of the Hong Kong season, the May 24 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup at 2,400 meters (about 1 1/2 miles).

"I expected Exultant to win, but if he didn't perform, Furore was always going to run a good race, too, and I'm very happy with his run," said Cruz, who also trains Time Warp.

Exultant could have a good case for Horse of the Year with a win in the Champions & Chater Cup. Golden Sixty could be a candidate despite not have contested any of the jurisdiction's group 1 events.

The Chairman's Sprint Prize produced the day's biggest upset as Mr Stunning found a seam at the 100-meter mark, shot through, and won by three-quarters of a length over fellow longshot Big Time Baby. Thanks Forever was third.

The expected showdown between Aethero and Hot King Prawn never developed. Aethero showed the way into the stretch in the 1,200-meter (about six-furlong) event, quit with 300 meters to run, and finished last, eased by Purton. He later was found to have bled. Hot King Prawn ran well enough but settled for fourth in the blanket finish, beaten only 1 1/2 lengths.

Mr Stunning, a 7-year-old Exceed And Excel gelding, was scratched from last season's Chairman's Sprint Prize with a hairline fracture of his hip. Trainer Frankie Lor nursed him back into racing shape. He had not won since taking the Longines Hong Kong Cup (G1) in December 2018, and this was to have been his career finale.

"Because of the hairline fracture he had, I can't push him too hard, especially as he is an older horse," Lor said. "That's why this time I didn't trial him before this race. We just freshened him up.

"We planned this to be his last run, but let me talk to the owner and we will decide and see what he thinks about the horse. I'm very happy for him."

Moreira was blanked in the day's group 1 races but won three on the undercard. His only rival for the season premiership is Purton, whose victory on Exultant was his sole win of the day.