Beauty Generation Ready for Hong Kong Champions Day

Champions Day April 28 at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong features three excellent group 1 races, two hot favorites, and one big unanswered question.

The hottest of favorites, Beauty Generation is riding an eight-race winning streak and defends his title in the FWD Champions Mile (G1) against six rivals, all of them Hong Kong-based.

Along with Winx and City of Light , Beauty Generation sits atop the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings.

The question comes into play should the 7-year-old Road To Rock gelding run to expectations for reigning Hong Kong champion jockey Zac Purton: Will the Hong Kong star travel to Japan to contest the June 2 Yasuda Kinen (G1)—perhaps to meet Almond Eye, that nation's reigning Horse of the Year?

Almond Eye, a 4-year-old Lord Kanaloa filly, swept the Japanese Triple Tiara for fillies in 2018, whipped a solid field of older males in the Japan Cup (G1), and started her 2019 season with an impressive victory in the Dubai Turf Sponsored by DP World (G1) on World Cup night in Dubai. Her owners subsequently scrapped plans to target the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1) this fall and penciled in the Yasuda Kinen as part of a 2019 plan.

"I would love to go," Beauty Generation's owner, Patrick Kwok Ho Chuen, said after his star drew gate 2 for the Champions Mile. "Right now, it's 50-50. If he runs well Sunday, the odds might go up. We'll see."

Trainer John Moore is eager to take on Almond Eye.

"This is what everyone wants to see," Moore said. "The word's best, competing against each other."

This year's Champions Day program benefits from the resolution of a quarantine dispute, which prevented most Australian horses from participating in Hong Kong racing for more than a year. That issue put to rest, Santa Ana Lane arrives at Sha Tin as a likely heavy favorite for the Chairman's Sprint Prize (G1) at 1,200 meters (about six furlongs).

Santa Ana Lane, a 7-year-old Lope de Vega gelding, already has accounted for five group 1 wins in Australia, including a 3 1/2-length score in his previous outing, the Aquis T.J. Smith Stakes at Randwick. Aussie star Chautauqua won that race as a springboard to victory in the Chairman's Sprint Prize in 2016.

Santa Ana Lane drew the outside gate in a field of 10. But as a confirmed off-the-pace runner, that shouldn't matter, said Sam Freedman, son of trainer Anthony Freedman.

"Better 10 than 1," Freedman said. "It'll let him get into a nice rhythm and have space to breathe. The draw doesn't really matter given his racing style and the relatively small field."

The Australian runner faces some formidable adversaries, including Mr Stunning, winner of the Longines Hong Kong Sprint (G1) in December, and fellow Aussie Viddora, who exits a fourth-place showing March 30 in the Al Quoz Sprint Sponsored by Azizi Developments (G1) on the Meydan turf.

The third group 1 event, the FWD QE II Cup, appears to be the most competitive. With 13 entered, there is a wide range of credentials for the 2,000 meters (about 1 1/4 miles).

Trainer Tony Cruz has the two highest-rated horses in the QE II in Exultant, last-out winner of the Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (G1), and Time Warp, who took down the 2018 Hong Kong Gold Cup in track-record time.

"No complaints," Cruz said after Exultant got gate 6 and Time Warp was installed in gate 10. "I'm very happy with gate 6 for Exultant. It is smack in the middle, and that will be perfect for him. He won't get trapped on the inside.

"With Time Warp, I'm happy to be drawn outside. It doesn't matter to him. He's still going to go to the lead from gate 10."

Also entered in the QE II are Glorious Forever and Japan-based Deirdre, the 1-2 finishers in the Longines Hong Kong Cup (G1) in December. Deirdre subsequently finished fourth behind Almond Eye in the Dubai Turf. Lys Gracieux, second in the Longines Hong Kong Vase (G1) in December at 2,400 meters (about 1 1/2 miles), also returns to Sha Tin.

Furore won the BMW Hong Kong Derby in his previous start, at the 2,000-meter distance. Eminent was fourth in the 2017 Investec Derby (G1) at Epsom and a good second in the Ranvet Stakes (G1) in March at Randhill in Australia.