Lucky Sweynesse has equalled Beauty Generation’s record for wins in a Hong Kong season, saluting for the eighth time in 2022-23 with a typically brilliant performance in the Group Three Sha Tin Vase (1,200m) on Sunday.
Sent off $1.45 under top weight, Lucky Sweynesse pushed his winnings past HK$50 million with his sixth victory on the bounce.
“He’s something else. He’s starting to turn into a very, very good horse,” jockey Zac Purton said of Lucky Sweynesse, who has three Group One victories to his name in a campaign that kicked off on opening day in September and has seen him run 10 times.
“The last three or four months, he’s improved so much. It’s scary to think that with a break he might build up even more. I’m hoping that’s the case.”
After settling Lucky Sweynesse off a pace set by Victor The Winner and Sight Success – the second 400m was run more than two lengths inside standard – Purton sat quietly before asking his mount for an effort inside the 300m.
The four-year-old responded to his pilot’s urgings to sail past the lead pair and finish a length and a quarter clear of Victor The Winner, stopping the clock in 1:08 flat to post his third fastest 1,200m time despite the heavy weight.
“He began very well, which makes it easier, and the pace in the race with the weight on his back played into his hands because it allowed him to get into it with a nice rhythm,” Purton said.
“He could come into it when he felt comfortable and it was a pretty soft win. I looked after him for as long as I could, and he did the rest. He’s turning into some horse.”
Trainer Manfred Man Ka-leung maintained he had no concerns about asking his stable star to tackle a handicap race so late in the season, and did not rule out the possibility of backing him up in the Group Three Premier Cup (1,400m) on June 25.
“In the mornings, I didn’t think the horse was feeling tired. He was still in very good form. Even Zac doing the gallops also said the horse was in very good form, so I never worried about this race,” Man said.
“I need to discuss [the Premier Cup] with the owner first. It’s too early to give an answer. I’ll look at the horse after the race. We’ll do the morning gallop to see how he feels. Now the weather is very hot, so I don’t want the horse to feel hot.”
Purton completed a Group-race double aboard Lucky Sweynesse after the earlier victory of the John Size-trained Beauty Eternal, who handled his step up into open company with aplomb in the Group Three Lion Rock Trophy (1,600m).
“He’s done a very good job this season. He’s continued to front up every time John has asked him to, and he’s been very consistent in doing that over a number of distances,” Purton said after Beauty Eternal justified his $1.45 starting price with a comfortable victory.
“He’s had to come back [from the 2,000m of the Derby], he struck the wet track and everything that was thrown at him, but he’s been able to absorb all of that and still turn up when we needed him to.
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“He drew the right gate, had the right run, was well weighted and once he got into the position he was in, it was then up to him to show us if he was up to this level – and maybe a little bit more – and I think he did that.”
After winning four times in the lead up to his Derby third as favourite, Beauty Eternal has snared two of his three starts since the prestigious contest and will find himself with a rating north of 110.
“He still had a bit more rating to go, so he’s probably done what he was expected to do. He’s been up a long time, he’s done a good job, and he just keeps racing well,” said Size, who will now ponder whether to give the four-year-old one more start in the Premier Cup, or even the Group Three Premier Plate (1,800m) on the same afternoon.
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