Hong Kong’s milers have stood among the best in world racing for the past two decades, and generally one dominant miler will rule over the rest.
Bullish Luck set the standard when he ended Silent Witness’s 17-race winning streak in the 2005 Champions Mile, then defended that title and won Japan’s Yasuda Kinen in 2006. Good Ba Ba won three straight Hong Kong Miles from 2007 to 2009.
Beauty Generation reigned for John Moore from 2017 to 2019, winning back-to-back Hong Kong Miles and Champions Miles, before Golden Sixty went further still, stringing together 16 consecutive wins from 2019 to 2021 and taking three Hong Kong Miles for Francis Lui Kin-wai.
The rest of the world has taken notice. Good Ba Ba was rated the best miler on the planet in his prime, while Beauty Generation was named the world’s leading turf miler in both 2018 and 2019 on a rating of 127, matching the highest international mark given to a Hong Kong horse, which Able Friend also reached. Golden Sixty retired as the world’s highest-earning racehorse.
Each new champion tended to emerge just as the last one faded, and once on top, they were hard to remove. Europe and Japan sent their best milers to Sha Tin every December, and more often than not the local hero sent them home empty-handed. Hong Kong-trained horses have won the last six, nine of the last ten and 18 of the last 20 editions of the race.
Voyage Bubble has had his turn at the top, winning the Hong Kong Mile in 2024 and 2025, but the eight-year-old now looks vulnerable. He resumes in Monday’s Group 2 Sha Tin Trophy (1,600m) under 135 pounds from the outside gate, and with Romantic Warrior retired, Hong Kong’s mile ranks look more open than they have in years.
The five horses joining Voyage Bubble on our cover – My Wish, Sagacious Life, Stormy Grove, Helios Express and Sky Jewellery – all want to pull the sword from the stone.
My Wish, the Champions Mile winner, is the leading candidate, Sky Jewellery is a rising five-year-old, and Stormy Grove and Helios Express are both Classic Cup winners who could spring a surprise. Sagacious Life, a Group 1 Derby Paulista winner in Brazil who has since moved to Caspar Fownes, is out to show his best after a disappointing Classic Series.
Five Hong Kong Mile winners have come via wins in the Sha Tin Trophy since 2012: Ambitious Dragon, Beauty Generation twice, Golden Sixty and California Spangle. Golden Sixty’s victory in 2020 came with Beauty Generation sixth behind him, a handover of the crown in this race, and Monday’s winner sets out on the same path toward December 13.
