Not only is trainer Tony Cruz not afraid of the star Japanese milers on their way to a meeting with Beauty Only in the Champions Mile next month, he is already planning to play them on their own patch in the Yasuda Kinen in June.
Back on a rock hard track in the Group Two Chairman’s Trophy, Beauty Only (Neil Callan) was back to his very best, swooping around the field at the top of the straight and sustaining that finish to the line to beat Rewarding Hero and Designs On Rome.
“The main thing with this horse, I told the owner, he is a fast track horse. The faster the track, the better he is,” said Cruz after the comprehensive victory. “We haven’t seen his best yet and I think he’s going to break records. He’s better than Contentment and these others there today, but he must have a firm track. Now he goes next in the Champions Mile, and what I have in my mind is the Yasuda Kinen in Tokyo. A firm track, a good pace, he’ll be perfectly suited there.”
Cruz always held a similar view with his former star miler, Bullish Luck, that he needed rock hard tracks and that gelding was able to produce one of the most impressive Yasuda Kinen wins on record.
Callan also had warned punters to forget the run last time when Beauty Only was fifth of six runners behind Rewarding Hero last month on a track rated as good but on a day with some rain around.
“Look, I know from riding him last season that whenever he hits a softer track, he just labours on it,” he said. “So I knew that run had to be forgotten but you’ve got to admire what a tough horse he is, though, that he pulls himself together again and so quickly back to his best. He handles everything that’s thrown at him and he’s still a young horse with his best ahead.”
Callan said the conditions of the Chairman’s Trophy worked in Beauty Only’s favour as he received a five-pound allowance from some of the best-performed horses but he wasn’t concerned about the return to level terms in the Champions Mile, or the upgraded opposition.
“Look, you’ve got to race the best if you want to win Group Ones,” he said. “I’d be confident he can beat those horses at level weights but getting the five pounds obviously was an extra little edge for him today.”
John Moore was happy with Rewarding Hero (Joao Moreira) in second place but he and jockey Tommy Berry were delighted with Designs On Rome in third.
“Joao just said the winner got the fly on him at the top of the straight and Rewarding Hero tried his best but couldn’t peg him back,” Moore said.
“He’ll run in the Champions Mile and hopefully get some prize money, but Tommy said Designs On Rome is right on target so we’ve got high hopes of a second QE II Cup win.”
Berry said Designs On Rome’s effort was the best he had ever produced for the rider in any previous lead-up race: “Over the 1,600m, he was hard work. I usually have to ride him hard from the 800m but today I had to ride him the whole way just to stay in touch and he kept coming.”
The John Size-trained favourite Contentment raced too keenly for his own good and was disappointing at the finish of the mile, fading to fifth, while Cruz’s other runner of interest, last year’s QE II Cup winner Blazing Speed, beat only two runners home after racing wide but pleased the trainer.
“He’s not the same horse he was when he won a Group One over a mile a couple of seasons ago, he’s older and not as fast,” Cruz said. “He needs 2,000m or 2,400m now, he’ll be spot on for the QE II.”
