Beauty Eternal all class
HONG KONG Beauty Eternal has emerged as a potential Four-Year-Old Classic Series contender for trainer John Size, erasing the memories of recent mishaps with a devastating victory in the Class 3 Peony Handicap over 1,200m on Saturday.
He gave jockey Zac Purton the fourth leg of a four-timer, after Ping Hai Galaxy, Beauty Live and Prince Of Porty.
Banishing the bad luck, which saw Beauty Eternal scratched from his past two engagements on veterinary advice, the Starspangledbanner gelding treated his rivals with contempt.
An authoritative debut winner before suffering significant interference when beaten into third placing on Nov 6, Beauty Eternal restored the faith of a growing band of admirers by clocking the fastest final 400m winning sectional time of the day – 22.64sec.
“He’s obviously a talented horse and he was able to begin well and was able to get into the perfect spot for us, out there like that and let him doing his thing,” said Purton, who took his season’s tally to 82.
“It’s just good to have him back at the races after a few little hiccups and, hopefully, it’s behind us now and we can get on with it.”
Asked if Beauty Eternal, an entrant for the HK$24 million (S$4.04 million) BMW Hong Kong Derby (2,000m) on March 19, was a probable Classic contender, Purton said: “John will work that out – let him decide.” HKJC
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