Beauty’s stunning triumph

Hong Kong’s top racehorse Beauty Generation made his seasonal reappearance at Sha Tin on Tuesday and duly sauntered to victory, his tenth in succession.

Although the Celebration Cup is only a Group 3 handicap, Beauty Generation – the winner of seven Group 1s – had to give a stone and upwards to nine rivals in the seven-furlong contest, which he had won for the previous two years.

The result was never in doubt once Zac Purton took the seven-year-old gelding to the front and he scored easily, breaking the track record by over a quarter of a second in the process.

Under Hong Kong’s strict licensing laws, Beauty Generation’s trainer John Moore will have to retire when he turns 70 in July. Before that happens, though, Moore is dreaming of a trip to Meydan for the Dubai Turf in March.

Up Helly Aa on the up

The Niarchos family have enjoyed another excellent year on the racecourse with the likes of dual Group 1 scorer Circus Maximus (owned in partnership with Coolmore) and Up Helly Aa looks a likely candidate for some good prizes in 2020, after producing a career-best performance to take the Listed Navigation Stakes at Cork on Tuesday.

The son of Galileo, trained by Willie McCreery, is out of Fiesolana, who McCreery also trained to win the Group 1 Matron Stakes. Up Helly Aa showed an excellent attitude to take the extended mile event on testing ground, running on well under Billy Lee to score by a neck from Pincheck.

ROA Grass Roots Finals Day at Nottingham

The Racehorse Owners Association is holding an Industry Ownership Day and regional meeting at Nottingham today, sponsoring all seven races on the card.

A competitive afternoon’s racing sees the grassroots series finals (run in conjunction with the Jockey Club) for two-year-olds, sprinters, middle-distance horses and stayers.

Flat racing is also taking place on the all-weather at Kempton and Newcastle while Bangor and Huntingdon stage the jumping action today.

Cumani joins BHA board

Luca Cumani, who retired from training last year, has joined the BHA board as a member-nominated director.

He replaces Rupert Arnold, Chief Executive of the National Trainers Federation, who joined the board in 2015.

Cumani, who won the Derby with Kahyasi (1988) and High-Rise (1998), will serve a three-year term, having been nominated for the position by the Racehorse Owners Association, Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association and other licensed personnel.

Fillies lead the way at the Orby Sale

Three yearling fillies breached the million-euro mark on the opening day of the Orby Sale at Goffs.

Lot 127, a Galileo filly out of Aleagueoftheirown and a sister to three-time Group 1 winner Alice Springs, made €2.2 million, sold by Glenvale Stud to Westerberg.

Lot 213, a daughter of Galileo out of Devoted To You, was bought by Phoenix Thoroughbred and Aquis Farm for €1.1m while lot 156, a Dark Angel filly out of Beatrix Potter, went to Godolphin for €1m.

The second and final day of the Orby Sale starts today at 10am.