Beauty Joy (129lb) almost certainly staved off retirement after the evergreen eight-year-old upstaged younger rivals to land the HK$4.2 million G3 Premier Plate Handicap (1800m) for Tony Cruz and Brenton Avdulla at Sha Tin on Sunday (22 June).

Nearing the end of his fifth Hong Kong season after an unbeaten four-race stint in Australia in 2020 when he raced as Talladega, the Sebring gelding showed no signs of fatigue in surging past BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) victor Cap Ferrat (126lb) and Bundle Award (115lb) in 1m 46.91s.

Second last early, Beauty Joy trailed fast-finishing Cap Ferrat into the middle of the track before the pair collared leader Pray For Mir (121lb) with Beauty Joy then outsprinting his rivals to claim a seventh Hong Kong win – and his fourth at Group level – to boost his earnings to over HK$35 million.

Cruz, who last won the Premier Plate with Exultant in 2018, revealed Beauty Joy – who is three times Group 1-placed – had almost certainly earned another season after pre-race discussions with Simon Kwok, whose wife Eleanor and son Patrick race the chestnut.

“In the parade ring before the race, Simon said ‘I hope we win this race. If we win this race, we’re going to keep on racing him’. He won, so it looks like we’re going to keep on racing him next season,” Cruz said.

“He’s a healthy horse and as long as he’s healthy, we’ll keep going. We’re going to keep the flow going.”

On a high after the recent birth of his son Kobe in Sydney, Avdulla said Beauty Joy was a challenging horse to ride.

“We seem to get on very well, I’m on the only one to win on him for about probably three years. He was good to me last season (winning the G2 The Chairman’s Trophy, 1600m) and we’ve had another Group race today. Obviously well handled by Tony to get him today here in good form and he did his job well.

“He’s such a quirky horse. You just can’t get any feel of him early. You’ve just got to try and let the bridle fall out of his mouth as much possible because he can be a very difficult ride.

“I never knew I was really in the race until just before the corner when the pace steadied and he got hold of the bridle and I gave him a little click into gear and he felt like a horse that was going to take me a long way.
“He did a good job. He had to come off the Derby winner’s back and get out after him and he did that in good style, so it was nice to get one for a loyal supporter like Tony and the Kwok family, too.”

John Size continued a relentless march towards a record-extending 13th Hong Kong trainers’ title with the impressive performance of three-year-old Szeryng for Karis Teetan in the first section of the Class 4 Diamond Handicap (1200m).

The master trainer boosted his haul to 64 wins – 10 clear of David Hayes (54) – with seven meetings remaining in the season.

Chris So maintained his strong season, striking with Golden Fairy (121lb) under Lyle Hewitson in the Class 5 Spessartine Garnet Handicap (2000m) after Lightness Of Music (129lb) overcame issues before landing the Class 4 Ruby Handicap (1000m) for Zac Purton.

“It was a good effort because he (Lightness Of Music) got a little bit stirred up in the parade and going out to the track and then he pulled a shoe off (going to the barriers), so we had a little bit to deal with,” Purton said.

“Once he got behind the gates, it was pretty straight-forward from there but it was good to see him do it on race day.”

Purton combined with Jimmy Ting’s Lo Pan Spirit in the second section of the Class 4 Diamond Handicap (1200m) before David Eustace continued a remarkable winning sequence for his family with Mister Dapper’s narrow success in the Class 4 Topaz Handicap (1600m) under Brenton Avdulla.

The first-season Hong Kong trainer travelled to Royal Ascot where his brother Harry produced a Group 1 double with Docklands and Time For Sandals.

“It was a great week at Royal Ascot for Harry,” Eustace said after slotting his 33rd winner for the season after Mister Dapper made it three wins from five starts.

“I thought it was, by far and away, his best performance in that he had to use a bit of petrol and he got into a really nice rhythm but he had to grind it out and the line came just at the right time – it was a fairly hairy wait, waiting for the photo.”

Douglas Whyte’s Morgan Success claimed a PP Bonus of HK$1.5 million by winning the Class 3 Sapphire Handicap (1600m) to give Hewitson a double after Benno Yung’s Fun posted his fourth course and distance victory in the Class 4 Emerald Handicap (1400m) under a well-timed ride by Jerry Chau.

Cody Mo also secured a brace after Derek Leung overcame barrier 12 aboard Jumbo Treasure snare the Class 3 Lapis Lazuli Handicap (1200m) before Harry Bentley piloted Flying Fortress to victory in the Class 3 Amethyst Handicap (1400m).

Hong Kong racing continues at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (22 June).