Hong Kong round-up: Exultant too good in QEII Cup but Beauty Generation nosed out of historic hat-trick

EXULTANT landed the odds in fine style in the QEII Cup on Champions Day at Sha Tin.

The six-year-old, who once upon a time was placed in Churchill’s Irish Guineas, has become a middle-distance star in the Far East.

Turned over at odds of 1-5 in the Hong Kong Gold Cup last time out, he set the record straight in no uncertain terms.

Time Warp was his surprise conqueror in February, but this time Exultant swatted him away with ease and had enough up his sleeve to fend off the late challenge of Furore.

Victory meant jockey Zac Purton added the only missing piece of Group 1 silverware in Hong Kong to his trophy cabinet.

He said: “The feeling going over the line – it was a combination of everything! I’ve come close to winning this race so many times, it’s been very frustrating and after missing the bob in the previous race, to win this was a sense of relief.

“I didn’t want a repeat of getting beat last time, that didn’t go well for us. I had planned to be outside in the run but my guy showed no speed early so I just had to wait until we got around that first corner and then allow him to move into the race.

“My fella, at the 300-metre mark, was just starting to struggle a little bit. Down to the 200 (metres) 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.

“It means a lot to now be the only jockey to have won every Group 1 race in Hong Kong. It’s not an easy thing to do and it’s an achievement I’m very proud of – a Group 1 race is hard to win, as I’ve found, but that’s why they’re Group 1, they’re not easy and they should never be easy.

“The competition is tough so to go home and have finally won this race today, I’m still going to go home a little bit flat but I’ll go home very thankful that this trophy is now on the mantelpiece.”

Earlier on the card, Purton had suffered heartbreak as leading miler Beauty Generation was touched off by Southern Legend in a photo finish as he chased three straight wins in the Champions Mile.

The red-hot favourite looked cooked as Southern Legend edged into the lead just over a furlong out, but Beauty Generation battled back bravely – only to go down on the bob

Winning rider Vincent Ho said: “It’s amazing. There are no spectators here but it’s my first Group 1. I’ve been working really hard for it and hopefully there are plenty more to come.

“I didn’t jump that sharply, maybe because the visor was off, but I got a good spot and the pace was actually quite slow.

“Southern Legend had won at 1800 and he’d gone 2000 metres as well, so when they went that slowly I decided to take off at the 600 (metres) and he got a really good kick and sustained it to the end.”

And Mr Stunning rolled back the years with victory in the Chairman’s Sprint Prize.

The John Size-trained speedster was dominant in Hong Kong in 2017-18 and bounced back to win his third Group 1 under Karis Teetan.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.sportingexcitement.com/horse-racing/frankie-dettori-joins-fight-against-coronavirus-as-racing-legend-donates-1000-health-drinks-to-nhs-staff