Beauty Generation ranked as the world’s best miler in the 2019 World’s Best Racehorse Rankings (WBRR), released by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) on Wednesday, 22 January, while 10 of Hong Kong’s elite races featured in the World’s Top 100 G1 Races for the year just ended.
Hong Kong was home to the world’s two highest-ranked 1200m races in 2019, the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint and Chairman’s Sprint Prize, and the best 1400m contest based on the official ratings, the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup.
The John Moore-trained Beauty Generation’s top rating of 127 was achieved with an awesome weight-carrying feat in October’s G3 Celebration Cup Handicap (1400m) – completing a 10-race win streak – and matched his 2018 figure. That rating is an all-time Hong Kong high, with only the great Able Friend having achieved the mark previously.
Beauty Generation is one of 20 Hong Kong horses to make the illustrious WBRR and ranked as the fourth best horse in the list, behind the co-top rated trio of Enable, Waldgeist and Crystal Ocean, making him the top-rated horse trained outside of Europe.
The John Size-trained Beat The Clock – winner of the G1 Centenary Sprint Cup for a second time last Sunday – emerged as a world’s top 10 sprinter; his rating of 121, earned when winning December’s G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint, placed him co-29th in the overall rankings. Only five Hong Kong sprinters have ever rated higher than 121.
Hong Kong’s champion stayer Exultant and the talented sprinters Aethero and Hot King Prawn all rated 120 to rank equal-35th, making five Sha Tin-based horses rated 120 or higher.
Mr. Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “Hong Kong has achieved 20 or more horses in the year-end rankings every year since 2013 and it is pleasing to reach that figure again in 2019, particularly when one considers the fact we have a total horse population at Sha Tin and Conghua of about 1300.
“It is noteworthy that five of our horses in the Rankings rated 120 or above, which accounts for approximately nine percent of the world’s horses in that elite bracket, with our two-time Horse of the Year Beauty Generation in fourth place being the world’s standout miler – deservedly so when one looks at his dominating performances in winning three Group 1 races during the year as part of his 10-race unbeaten streak.
“As a point of context, Ireland had only four horses rated 120 or higher, and France just two; this achievement highlights the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s successful strategies, including a commitment to rewarding owners with strong prize money levels, which in turn gives them the confidence to go out and buy high quality horses to strengthen the talent pool. This approach is a key enabling factor for Hong Kong to hold its position as a world leader within the sport.”
World’s Top 100
