Recap by phillip woo

Beauty Generation took some time to shake off the leader Winner's Way after poking his head in front at the 350m following a pace-stalking run and held off stablemate Booming Delight for back-to-back wins. He's starting to live up to expectations this term but still needs to lift in this sort of company at level weights. Heavily-backed at the jump Booming Delight closed strongly travelling fore of midfield to make it close on the wire. The light weight was in his favour but he has a record next to none over the 1,600m. Jolly Banner was closing the gap with every stride following a prominent run to finish a close third. The weights were also in his favour but he's as honest as the day is long and there's a Group Three win in him. Winner's Way wouldn't go down without a fight after dictating a steady pace. He's been knocking on the door but this was a bit too rich. Western Express ran on steadily without menacing from midfield. He wasn't good enough.

Racing Incident Report

Race Eight: (134) - THE ORIENTAL WATCH SHA TIN TROPHY (HANDICAP) - Class G2 - 1600Meters

HELENE PARAGON began only fairly, shifted out and bumped SECRET WEAPON which also shifted in.

From a wide barrier, HARBOUR MASTER was shifted across behind runners in the early stages.

Also from a wide barrier, JOYFUL TRINITY was steadied in the early stages in order to be shifted across behind runners.

When being steadied in the early stages, JOYFUL TRINITY got its head up and bounded in the air.

Approaching the 1700 Metres, WESTERN EXPRESS, which was being shifted in, blundered after being bumped by ROMANTIC TOUCH which was badly hampered when taken out by BEAUTY GENERATION (K C Leung) which shifted out marginally when being ridden along to obtain a forward position.

K C Leung was advised that whilst there were some circumstances to this incident, nonetheless he must be aware of his mounts shifting ground and correct them at the earliest opportunity.

Passing the 400 Metres, GIANT TREASURE shifted out and brushed JOLLY BANNER.

Also passing the 400 Metres, BOOMING DELIGHT and WESTERN EXPRESS bumped, causing BOOMING DELIGHT, in particular, to become unbalanced.

Passing the 150 Metres, D Whyte (HELENE PARAGON) dropped his whip.

When questioned, Z Purton stated that after shifting across behind runners in the early stages, the manner in which the race was run resulted in BEAUTY ONLY being further back in the field in the middle stages than he had hoped.

He said in a number of races conducted today, horses racing back in the field had found it difficult to make up ground and considering the way today's race was run, he believed that BEAUTY ONLY's finishing effort was better than it first seemed as the horse responded satisfactorily over the latter stages of the race.

A veterinary inspection of BEAUTY ONLY immediately following the race did not show any significant findings.

BEAUTY ONLY, BEAUTY GENERATION and BOOMING DELIGHT were sent for sampling.