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April 29 (UPI) -- Thoroughbred racing heated up around the globe during the weekend as Hong Kong's champion miler, Beauty Generation, was stellar again on Champions Day, Fierement franked his credentials among Japanese stayers and Waldgeist upset the first French Group 1 event of the season. Getting right to it:
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Hong Kong
Sunday was officially FWD Champions Day at Sha Tin Racecourse in the New Territories. In fact, the warm, steamy afternoon was Beauty Generation Day.
Hong Hong's reigning Horse of the Year, co-rated the top horse in the world, put on a show in the FWD Champions Mile, thoroughly dominating a half dozen rivals without being asked for his best. The easy win may have earned him a confrontation in June with Japan's undefeated star filly, Almond Eye, in the Group 1 Yasuda Kinen June 2.
With Zac Purton up, Beauty Generation went right to the front, led by daylight all the way and won by 1 1/2 length. At no time did Purton ask him for his best. Beauty Generation landed his ninth straight victory and second straight Champions Mile. His winning streak includes three other Group 1 races, including last December's Longines Hong Kong Mile.
Sunday's romp boosted his career earnings to HK$84.77 million (about US$10.8 million).
Singapore Sling and Simply Brilliant finished second and third with no hope of catching the winner, who stopped the clock in 1:33.63 but could have done better.
"It's hard to say how much more he had in there," Purton said. "He did his job. It's all he can do."
Hong Kong Jockey Club officials said nine potential rivals had been invited from other racing jurisdictions but all declined to face the Hong Kong star.
"The whole world knows we have a hell of a miler here in Hong Kong," said Beauty Generation's trainer, John Size. Asked about the Yasuda Kinen, Size deferred to his listed owner, Patrick Kwok Ho Chuen, and Patrick's father, Simon.
"I think he's still got a lot left in the tank," Moore said. "That would be a real telling factor in his career."
Almond Eye's owners targeted the Yasuda Kinen earlier in April after scrapping plans to send the 4-year-old Lord Kanaloa filly to the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in the fall.
Two other Group 1 races on the Champions Day card had attractions of their own.
A trio of locals battled it out through the final 200 meters in the Chairman's Sprint Prize with Beat the Clock finishing a tick ahead as the hot favorite and highly rated Australian challenger, Santa Ana Lane, stalled out to finish fourth. Rattan, after showing the way, settled for second, a neck behind Beat the Clock and 1/2 length to the good of Little Giant. Santa Ana Lane was never in the mix.
Beat the Clock, a 5-year-old Hinchinbrook gelding, finished the 1,200 meters in 1:08.26 after relatively slow early fractions. Beat the Clock has not been worse than third in 20 starts and entered the Chairman's Sprint Prize off a second behind Rattan in the Group 2 Sprint Cup April 7.
Trainer John Size said there are no plans to travel with Beat the Clock. Instead, he said, the gelding will rest and await the Group 1 races in his 6-year-old season.
Win Bright scored for Japan with a 3/4-length victory in the FWD QE II Cup. After saving ground around the first turn and down the backstretch, jockey Matsami Matsuoka found running room 300 meters out, led inside the 100-meter mark and held off the locally based favorite, Exultant. Another from the Japanese contingent, Lys Gracieux (JPN), finished third.
"He didn't have gate speed today," Matsuoka said, "but he got a good position and had a fast gallop."
Win Bright, a 5-year-old by Stay Gold, in fact finished 2,000 meters (about 1 1/4 miles) in 1:58.81 -- a course record. He came to Hong Kong after winning two graded stakes in Japan but had never before landed a Group 1.
Japan
Fierement took the lead at the top of the stretch in Sunday's Grade 1 Tenno Sho (Spring) at Kyoto Racecourse and held off a determined bid by Glory Vase to win by a neck. Perform a Promise was third in the 2-miles marathon.
Fierement, a 4-year-old son of Deep Impact, scored his second Grade 1 win, following last fall's Kikuka Sho, or Japanese St Leger, at 3,000 meters. The twin marathon victories put him at the top of the pyramid among Japanese stayers.
Sunday's win wasn't the easiest. Fierement did not jump with the leaders and jockey Christophe Lemaire positioned him in mid-pack, without cover, for the first 1 1/2 miles. He began to pick up steam heading into the final turn and got the lead at the top of the stretch. From there, it was a battle with Glory Vase for the glory.
"It was a tough race to win," Lemaire said, "but Fierement really showed his strength when we were challenged by Keita Tosaki's mount on the outside. He was able to relax early on which is important in a long-distance race like this."
Nonetheless, Lemaire said he had some anxious moments late in the race.
"He wanted to go in the last two corners so I let him go and although the ground got slippery under him at the last corner, he was able to regain his balance and increase his speed at the straight. He's improving with every race and certainly proved he's of Grade 1 quality with this win," Lemaire said.
France
Waldgeist upset Sunday's Prix Ganay, the first Group 1 race of the French season, tracking the early leaders before advancing late to defeat Study of Man by 4 1/2 lengths. The odds-on favorite, Ghaiyyath, was a short head farther back in third.
Waldgeist, a 5-year-old son of Galileo, won the Group 2 Prix Foy last September but then failed to make the frame in the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, Longines Breeders' Cup Turf and Longines Hong Kong Vase in quick succession thereafter. The Ganay was his first start of the year for trainer Andre Fabre.
Study of Man, sired by the Japanese juggernaut Deep Impact, had not won in three starts since taking the Group 1 Qipco Prix du Jockey Club, or French Derby, last June. Ghaiyyath, a lightly raced Dubawi 4-year-old, had won four straight races dating back to 2017.
