This race was the highlight of the day for me, seeing the support for Derek Leung Ka-chun from the home crowd. They were genuinely excited to see one of their own win one of the big four races, chanting his name as he returned to scale on Beauty Generation. Leung became only the second Chinese jockey to win one of the International races (Matthew Chadwick won the Hong Kong Cup twice on California Memory).

Beauty Generation started his racing career as Montaigne and trained by Anthony Cummings. He ran second behind Tarzino in the Group 1 Rosehill Guineas and fourth in the Group I The BMW. Sold as a Derby prospect Beauty Generation found Rapper Dragon and Pakistan Star too big a hurdle in the HK Derby. Coming back early in this preparation a change of tactics to become a front runner saw him win the Celebration Cup (G3) over 1400m. A similar result in the Oriental Watch Sha Tin Trophy, saw Moore change tack and set Beauty Generation for the Hong Kong Mile, with initial thoughts being that he may be a Cup or Vase horse.

As expected Leung took Beauty Generation straight the lead and he was never challenged. “The plan was always to go forward, be in the first two and lead if that’s how it turned out. Everything did go very smoothly with a soft lead and I pressed the button at the 450 (metres) because I knew he would not stop and he didn’t. I had no worries to kick for home early and the horse ran so well,” Leung said.

Trainer John Moore has to be given credit for seeing Beauty Generation turn into a top Miler. Moore said the win was “no surprise” to the stable. “He’s done everything right from day one, this horse. We saw he was a little hampered in the run last time but today he had the gun run and was able to dictate the terms of the race which always looked a possibility.

“We tried him over more ground last season and he ran well but he starts to grind a bit at the longer trips. We put some speed into him and he has a turn-of-foot at the mile . He’s run so well today,” Moore said.

However the story really was Derek Leung Ka-chun. “I’m very, very happy,” said Leung before re-mounting his horse, with arms raised to the sky, for the official presentation. That was plain for all to see and he needn’t have said any more but, of course, he did.

“I want to thank everyone for their support, especially to the owner (Patrick Kwok) and to trainer John Moore. I was given an opportunity and I took advantage of it. I am always trying to prove myself and I am hoping there will be more international winners in the future.