A pair of Group III races were run at Sha Tin on Sunday with victory in the two last stakes races of the HK season both going to Aussie bred geldings Beauty Joy and Copartner Prance, who is a half-brother to Aquis based sire Kobayashi.
The Group III Premier Plate (18000m) was won by eight year-old Sebring gelding Beauty Joy, who was a stakes-winner in Perth as a three year-old over the same distance racing as Talladega.
He is now trained by Tony Cruz and carried Brenton Avdulla to a length and a quarter win in the feature race beating this year’s Hong Kong Derby winner Cap Ferrat.
Cruz 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.”
Brenton Avdulla seems to get the best from Beauty Joy, who can be 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.”
Sold privately to Hong Kong, Beauty Joy has 11 wins and 13 placings from 47 starts and is the best of two winners from Group III winning Jeune (GB) mare Impressive Jeuney.
Impressive Jeuney produced a colt last spring by Aysar, the half-brother by Deep Field to Home Affairs.
The Group III Premier Cup (1400m) went to progressive five year-old Epaulette gelding Copartner Prance trained by Francis Lui and ridden by Keagan de Melo.
Copartner Prance made an impressive rise through the grades last year winning seven races in Hong Kong and this year has been tackling stakes races and performing well without winning.
Copartner Prance led and controlled the race showing plenty of fight to hang on and win by a head with his overall record now eight wins and six placings from 23 starts.
Lui, 66, was crowned champion trainer last season and is renowned for handling retired superstar Golden Sixty.
“I think the jockey controlled the pace very well. We always thought 1400 (metres) would suit him but we tried once before and he was too keen – at the end of the season, he’s more relaxed. I’m very happy to get more and more winners,” Lui said.
A $150,000 Magic Millions purchase for John Foote Bloodstock from the Edinglassie Stud draft, Copartner Prance is a half-brother to stakes-winner and sire Kobayashi and is the second stakes-winner among four winners from Woodstock Hussey.
An unraced daughter of Hussonet (USA), Woodstock Hussey comes from the family of two time Group II HK International Bowl winner Monopolize.
He is the 23rd stakes-winner for Epaulette, who now stands in Turkey.
