Even though the world's best milers are competing in this race, The Hong-Kong Mile preview reads like a praising contest for Beauty Generation.
When his name appeared in the the final list of contenders trainers Southern Legend (who is considered a legend by some), Persian Knight and Singapore Sling said they would-be very happy to just land a second or third place behind the New Zealand bred entire.
The son of Road To Rock is also the defending champion and expected to keep his title.
Beauty generation is a 3 time Gr.1 winner, has an unbeaten record this year and is also Hong Kong's Horse of the Year.He just happens to also be the worlds highest rated turf miler.
Another Hong-Kong crowd favourite, Southern legend is one of their top favourites for the race. He has progressed from a third in the G1 Champions Mile to an easy win in the Gr.1 Kranji Mile last May. He was a smart second in the Gr.2 Jockey Club Mile recently.
Coming in from the UK we have Beat The Bank, a very high class miler but he's never actually stood the test in a Gr.1 race.
The winner of the Hong-Kong Classic Cup (2017),Singapore Sling has come-back to steal away the prize.
Where as William Haggas has sent his One Master who delivered a determined deep run to nick the Gr.1 Prix de la Foret at Longchamp in October and landed a close fifth in Gr. 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile last month.
Japans Mozu Ascot who is in the same race again, has won the Gr.1 Yasuda Kinen earlier this year but has been unplaced since then.
It looks like there are several hopefuls and possibles in this exciting US3.2 million race. But there can be only one winner and looks like beauty generation has everything to gain and nothing to lose ....
1st Beauty Generation (J. Moore,D. Leung), 2nd Western Express (J. Size,S. Clipperton), 3rd Helene Paragon (J. Moore,T. Berry), 4th Seasons Bloom (D. Shum,J. Moreira), 5th Lancaster Bomber (A. O'Brien,R. Moore), 6th Horse Of Fortune (A. Millard,U. Rispoli), 7th Beauty Only (A. Cruz,Z. Purton), 8th Sichuan Dar (A. Millard,N. Rawiller), 9th Joyful Trinity (J. Moore,G. Mosse), 10th Lightning Spear (D. Simcock,O. Murphy)
Distance: 1,600 metres (1 mile), Surface: Turf, Track: Right-handed, Qualification: Three-years-old and up, Weight: 125 lb (3y); 126 lb (4y+),Allowances,4 lb for fillies and mares, Purse: HK$25,000,000 (2018),1st: HK$14,250,000
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