John Size paid Sky Jewellery the highest compliment he knows after the former Champion Griffin dug deep to beat reigning Champion Griffin, Hot Delight, by a short head in the Class 2 Beijing Handicap over 1,400 meters at Sha Tin on Thursday.
"Well, he's always been a racehorse, hasn't he? He's proven it a few times," Size said. "He was just there to win the race. He can't help himself."
Carrying top weight of 134 pounds, Sky Jewellery settled last of 12 under Jimmy Orman from barrier seven before working his way into the race and grinding past Hot Delight in the final strides to win in 1:20.60 at odds of 8.1.
The win was a reminder of the talent that made Sky Jewellery Hong Kong's champion griffin in 2024-25, when the homebred son of The Autumn Sun won three of five starts and climbed from a rating of 52 to 79 for owner-breeder Tung Moon-fai. That form had him pegged as a serious contender for last season's Four-Year-Old Classic Series before injury and a bleed sidelined the rising star.
Size said there was still fitness to come but he was in no hurry to push the horse now that his rating will reach triple figures after Thursday's fighting win.
"I think he can be fitter, but, you know, sometimes a horse like that, if you push him a little bit too much, then you don't get the result anyway," he said. "So you're better off leaving him alone, let him organize it."
"We'll see what he's like. He'll tell me," Size said. "He'll let us know what he wants to do. So, step by step."
There was no shame in defeat for Hot Delight, who won four of five starts last season to rise to a rating of 89. Stepping up to 1,400m for the first time, and first-up for the season, the Francis Lui Kin-wai-trained four-year-old was trapped wide without cover throughout under jockey Vincent Ho Chak-yiu. It was a clear audition for the 2027 Four-Year-Old Classic Series that the horse passed with flying colors, even in defeat.
The Four-year-old Classic Series starts with the Hong Kong Classic Mile over 1,600m on January 31, followed by the Hong Kong Classic Cup (1,800m) on February 28 and culminates with the Hong Kong Derby (2,000m) on March 21.
