Beauty Only floors them in HKG1 Hong Kong Classic Mile

18/01/2015

Beauty Only struck the first blow in this season’s Hong Kong Four-Year-Old Series with an emphatic victory in the HKG1 Hong Kong Classic Mile at Sha Tin racecourse today, Sunday 18 January.

Tony Cruz’s charge floored race favourite Divine Calling and the highly-regarded Giant Treasure with an impressive turn-of-foot that left the two greys reeling, and handed his trainer a fourth success in the race (2007 Floral Pegasus, 2008 Helene Mascot, 2010 Beauty Flash).

Neil Callan was the man in the plate. The Irishman has been ever-present for the Holy Roman Emperor gelding’s five starts in Hong Kong and steered a path to a third success in the biggest test to date. Next month’s HKG1 Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m) now beckons, followed by the series’ blue riband finale, the HKG1 BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) in March.

“You can only do what the horse has got for you and I’ve got a pretty good one. I don’t want to blow the trumpet too early but I think we’ve only seen a part of what he’ll do,” said the rider.

Callan found cover for his mount – three wide just behind midfield – as Gun Pit and Flying Moochi shared the lead. Beauty Only was always travelling for his rider, stalking on the heels of Giant Treasure who in turn raced on the flank of the Joao Moreira-ridden Divine Calling.

As the leaders wilted at the top of the stretch, Giant Treasure moved up on the outside under Douglas Whyte for what momentarily seemed a decisive move, but Beauty Only had him covered. With Whyte soon at full drive, Callan switched wider still and went to work. The response was instant. Beauty Only swept to the lead and careered away to register a two and a quarter-length success, with a final 400m split of 22.99s. Divine Calling ran on to nick second from Giant Treasure by a short-head. The winning time was 1m 33.95s.

“It was pretty instant,” said Callan, in reference to the Italian import’s burst of speed. “I’ve always felt that he was the type of horse that when he goes further he’s going to keep improving, but I think the more racing he’s getting here, the more speed he’s getting.

“The last day I was doing the donkey work for Giant Treasure and today I knew there was only one horse I wanted to follow. I went past him very easily and then he just idled in the straight.”

Beauty Only won his first two starts this term before a change of tactics at his third start saw him race prominently but then wilt to finish 11th. In his Classic Mile prep on 4 January, Beauty Only ran fourth with Giant Treasure sweeping by to claim third against older opposition.

“He won first up and I was very impressed with him,” continued Callan. “I thought ‘oh, this could be a good one’. Then he won again and I was beginning to think ‘this could be a really good one’, but I’m just glad he had the glitch when we ran him a little bit differently three runs back. But I knew it was just a glitch, I knew he was better than that, and it was a better run next time. But I knew, even off that run last time out, he’d improve again, and I think he’ll keep improving.

“Even his second win, I know he was locked away on the fence, but the most important thing is to let him find his feet and then he’ll track up into the race in his own time. You learn from your mistakes and we’re just glad that there was one hitch and we learnt about it early.”

Cruz was delighted to have landed a fourth success in the race and second for the owners, the Kwok family, who lifted the trophy in 2010 with subsequent G1 Hong Kong Mile winner Beauty Flash.

“We’ve been pretty lucky with Simon Kwok with horses like Beauty Flash and I hope this horse can follow in his footsteps,” said the trainer. “This horse is a new star in Hong Kong, he’s on the rise and he will be one of the top horses in Hong Kong racing.”

John Moore registered a famous one-two in last year’s race with Able Friend defeating Designs On Rome. This time, Arpinati came out best of the trainer’s trio in fourth, three and a quarter lengths behind the winner.

In the day’s finale, the Class 2 Tak Ku Ling Handicap (1800m), the Richard Gibson-trained Got Fly further enhanced his Hong Kong Classic Cup and BMW Hong Kong Derby claims with a determined neck victory, his second on the bounce, under Douglas Whyte.