Group stakes schedule gets started

Beauty Only, the champion miler in 2016-17 in Hong Kong, will race for the first time this season in Sunday’s Group 3 Celebration Cup at seven furlongs at Sha Tin Racecourse.

Beauty Only’s title year was highlighted by a win in the Hong Kong Mile last December, and the same race is a goal this season.

The Celebration Cup and the Group 3 National Day Cup at five furlongs on turf on Sunday’s program are the first group stakes of the 2017-18 Hong Kong season. Both races are worth $384,216.

Beauty Only, a 6-year-old Irish-bred gelding, will carry top weight of 133 pounds against 12 rivals in the Celebration Cup. The Celebration Cup will be Beauty Only’s first start since a sixth in the Grade 1 Yasuda Kinen for turf milers in Tokyo in June and first start in Hong Kong since a second in the Group 1 Champions Mile at Sha Tin in June behind Contentment, who is part of the Celebration Cup field.

Contentment, who will carry 132 pounds, was 10th in the Yasuda Kinen in his last start.

The race distance will suit Winner’s Way, a four-time winner in the 2016-17 season who will face a class test. A 5-year-old Australian-bred gelding, Winner’s Way was second in the Group 3 Premier Cup at seven furlongs on turf June 25 at Sha Tin and second in his first start of the season in a minor handicap Sept. 10.

Mr Stunning and Peniaphobia, Group 1 winners in Hong Kong who were first and second in the Group 2 Sprint Cup on April 9 at Sha Tin, will carry 133 and 132 pounds, respectively, in the National Day Cup. Both geldings were beaten in their final start of the 2016-17 season and are considered candidates for the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint in December.

Joao Moreira, the leading rider in Hong Kong, will ride Mr Stunning, who won four of eight races last season.

Fabulous One, a five-time winner in the 2015-16 Hong Kong season, may set the pace. A 6-year-old gelding, Fabulous One was third in a five-furlong handicap Sept. 3 at Sha Tin.