New lease of life for Beauty Joy after G3 victory

By Michael Cox 

Things are never straightforward for Beauty Joy but he staved off retirement with a deserved win in the G3 Premier Plate (1,800 meters) and trainer Tony Cruz still has another run planned for the quirky eight-year-old before season’s end.

Three years ago Beauty Joy was a rising star, winning five races in his five-year-old campaign, including two Group 3 victories that took his rating to 117.

But his aggressive racing style limited his performance at top level and before yesterday’s breakthrough he had won just one of his last 33 starts as he battled against Hong Kong’s best milers.

Owners Eleanor Kwok Law Kwai-Chun and Patrick Kwok Ho-chuen had planned to retire Beauty Joy this season but Cruz said connections had agreed to push on next season.

“We were going to stop after the next run but why not keep racing when he can still perform like that? He obviously loves to race still,” Cruz said after Beauty Joy unleashed a sustained sprint from back in the field to beat four-year-olds Cap Ferrat, Bundle Award and Pray For Mir.

“I have to give the owners credit for being patient but also picking this race out,” Cruz said. “He ran a great race in this race last year, a good horse beat him [Galaxy Patch] and it was only by a neck.”

That Beauty Joy was giving weight to that talented trio of four-year-olds and was able to outsprint them added to Cruz’s case that the stable stalwart should continue his career.

Cruz said Beauty Joy’s next start would be over 1,600m in the Hong Kong Racehorse Owners Association Handicap, a Class 1 at the penultimate meeting of the season on July 13 at Sha Tin.

“Hopefully back at a mile he gets some pace in the race because that is what he needs,” the trainer said. “That is why he was able to do what he did today. This horse overraces but when the horses in front run along it allows him to relax behind and he can do what he did today.”

Winning jockey Brenton Avdulla was aboard Beauty Joy in the horse’s last win, the 2024 G2 Chairman’s Trophy, and described what a challenge it is to ride the horse.

“He is such a quirky horse, you just can’t get any feel of him early, you just need to let the bridle fall out of his mouth early because he can give you a very difficult ride,” Avdulla said. “I never knew I was really in the race until just before the corner and the pace steadied and he got hold of the bridle and he clicked into gear.”