Neil Callan is in buoyant mood as he looks forward to getting back aboard Beauty Only on Sunday (15 February), with the HKG1 Hong Kong Classic Cup the next big race on the Irishman’s radar.
Callan partnered the exciting galloper to an easy victory in last month’s HKG1 Hong Kong Classic Mile, the first leg of the Hong Kong Four-Year-Old Series, and now he is looking to snare leg two. Victory would be another fillip to the rider’s buoyant Hong Kong career.
“I haven’t sat on him lately but I’ve seen a lot of him going out onto the track. He’s cantering around in the morning looking fresh and he’s jumping around. He looks a million dollars. Physically he seems to have improved since his last win,” said Callan, who heads into Sunday fourth in the jockeys’ premiership with 29 wins.
Beauty Only is the latest star to emerge from the Tony Cruz stable. The white-faced bay has won three of five starts since importing from Italy with some smart form already in the bag, and Callan is as confident as prudence will allow that he can notch win number four at the weekend.
“He’s got a good draw in two,” he said. “I don’t know yet how the race will be run, there are no easy Group 1s but I wouldn’t swap him for anything.”
And Callan has few concerns about the Holy Roman Emperor gelding seeing out the 1800m on Sunday.
“You watch the way he lets down, he just takes that little while to get going and he kicks up another gear when he does,” he said. “I’m pretty sure the step up to 1800m will be no problem to him. He looks to me like he’s the best horse in the race. Hopefully we get a clear run and there’s a decent bit of pace to stretch the field out and then just see what happens, but I’m happy with him.”
Beauty Only is set to face 11 rivals on Sunday, including Hong Kong Classic Mile third Giant Treasure, the mount of Douglas Whyte. One horse he has not faced yet is Joao Moreira’s mount, Redkirk Warrior, an exciting staying prospect who showed a smart turn-of-foot to win over an inadequate 1600m last start.
The other elite feature on the day is the HKG1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m) in which Lucky Nine is seeking a hat-trick of wins but will face a stiff challenge, not least from the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint one-two of Aerovelocity and Peniaphobia, as well as the talented miler Gold-Fun.
Also on Sunday’s 10-race card, which kicks off at 1pm, is the Class 2 Heung Yee Kuk Cup (Handicap) over 2000m, which will pitch 13 smart stayers against each other. The field includes leading HKG1 BMW Hong Kong Derby prospect Got Fly (126lb), rerouted from the Hong Kong Classic Cup, and another potentially smart Derby entrant, Dynamism (115lb). Among the more established contenders are top-weight Sunny Ying (133lb), Mr Gnocchi (125lb), Ashkiyr (124lb), Tableaux (118lb) and Wayfoong Express (128lb).
The latter won at the course and distance back in October and was fourth in the HKG3 January Cup (1800m) at Happy Valley on 7 January.
“Wayfoong Express has been racing pretty consistently this season, which is a good sign,” said jockey Zac Purton. “He has come up with a good draw (4) and his run at the Valley was full of merit. And he won the start before that, so he should be going into this with a bit of confidence. The time he posted two starts back was pretty decent and if he reproduces that he should be pretty competitive.
“He’s got a big long stride and he likes to come into his races taking his time, without being rushed into it too much. With him, I think the first part of the race is most important. If he is not in the mood for the races he can flop out of the gates and not get going. Recently he has been more focused and switched on. If he takes part in the first part of the race he’ll be there in the second part.”
