Big Night for Karaka Graduates at Hong Kong Awards

Graduates of New Zealand Bloodstock Sales claimed four trophies at Hong Kong’s Champion Awards ceremony at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on Friday night, headed by a second consecutive Horse of the Year honour for the record-breaking champion Beauty Generation (NZ) (Road to Rock).

Bought for just $60,000 at the 2014 Select Sale at Karaka, the John Moore-trained gelding was unbeaten throughout 2018-19. He broke a Hong Kong record with eight victories in a season, four of them at Group 1 level including dazzling repeat victories in the Longines Hong Kong Mile (1600m) and FWD Champions Mile (1600m).

Beauty Generation has also set a new all-time prize-money record of HK$84.7 million and earned the equal-highest rating (127) ever achieved by a Hong Kong horse in the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings.

Having earned the equivalent of NZ$16.2 million, Beauty Generation has won more than 270 times his purchase price at Karaka, where Kylie Bax’s Hermes Syndications bought him from the draft of Highden Park.

Along with his back-to-back Horse of the Year titles, Beauty Generation was also Champion Miler for the second consecutive year, and Most Popular Horse.

The other award-winning Karaka graduate on Friday was Beat The Clock (Hinchinbrook), who was named Champion Sprinter.

The John Size-trained star, who cost $200,000 from the draft of Prima Park at the 2015 Ready to Run Sale, was a dual Group 1 winner this season in the Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m) and Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m).

Overall, Beat The Clock has had 21 starts for eight wins and more than HK$34.9 million (NZ$6.67 million) in stakes, which is more than 33 times his purchase price.

NZB’s 2019 Ready to Run Sale will take place on 20 and 21 November at Karaka with breeze-ups being held on 21 and 22 October at Te Rapa Racecourse.