No regrets on Beauty sale

By Bren O'Brien

Beauty Generation (NZ) (Road To Rock) may have confirmed himself as one of the world's best milers with his win in the G1 Hong Kong Mile on Sunday, but for the collection of owners that sold him after his 3-year-old season in Australia, there remains no regrets at their decision.

Beauty Generation raced as Montaigne in Australia for Anthony Cummings, who guided him to two wins in seven starts, including a second in the 2016 G1 Rosehill Guineas.

When the big money came for the gelding from representatives of the Kwok family, Cummings and the remaining owners didn’t hesitate, and despite the renamed Beauty Generation winning 11 of 19 starts since, including the Hong Kong Mile back-to-back, there are no second thoughts as to what might have been.

"I just keep remembering the cheque they sent," Cummings told Sky Sports Radio.

"We've had a few chances to chat along the way with the ownership group and everyone is pretty relaxed. We got very good money for a gelding."

Cummings said it was easy to look at the significant prizemoney increases in both Sydney and Melbourne since Beauty Generation left the stable in 2016 and think about what he could have made but nothing was ever as simple as it seems.

"You look back and you think what he would have done. He probably would have run second to Winx (Street Cry {Ire}) a few times and so he probably wouldn’t have earned as much here as you think," he said.

"In any event, we got the money, everyone as happy and they continue to be."

Road to success

Cummings was the driving force behind the decision of Kylie Bax to purchase Beauty Generation at the 2014 NZB Karaka Yearling Sales.

"I was keen on the idea of buying a Road To Rock because I had a Road to Rock in the stable, and his first year, we had one out of a sharp mare that had won well first up at Warwick Farm. While it won, it hurt itself at its first run, but there was a fair bit of potential in that," he said.

"I was keen to go along and look to do that again. We looked at two or three of those Road To Rocks at Karaka, settled on Montaigne, bought him and Kylie Bax gave us a bit of a hand to syndicate him."

The breeder

One of the other key figures in the Beauty Generation back story is his breeder Greg Tomlinson, who leased his dam Stylish Bel (Bel Esprit) specifically to go to Road To Rock.

"I was short of mares and Stylish Bel was a mare that we leased and on pedigree we felt that she was right for Road to Rock,” Tomlinson said.

“It’s great (to have bred such a good horse), we know how hard it is to do it and I’m just lucky enough to have been involved in the breeding of the horse."

“He’s quite amazing and at the moment he could be one of the better horses to come out of New Zealand for some time, which is great for New Zealand and the breeding economy."

Cummings was equally impressed with what he saw on Sunday.

"You can't be anything but impressed with the win," he said., "He's got a high cruising speed with a hell of a kick and puts himself at the right end of the race. It was great to see him win."

The next generation

The man in charge of preparing him now, John Moore, has an immediate next aim for the 6-year-old.

"He's the real deal and I'm just hoping the owners might allow us to take him to Dubai for the Dubai Turf," he told Sky Sports Radio.

"If we want to make him recognised worldwide, that he can beat them overseas and not just on his home ground, that's what we have got to do to prove he is the real deal."

Moore said the conversation has already begun with his owner Patrick Kwok.

"I mentioned it before the race. I said if you want to prove he's the very best miler in the world, you have to travel him," he said.

"Dubai is not that far away, if you are thinking about Royal Ascot and running him in the Queen Anne, that's a very long trip. To Dubai and back, I've already done it. I've already won a Group 1 there and I think this horse is the right sort of horse to take there."

Moore said he would love to take Beauty Generation back to Australia if it wasn't for a quarantine impasse which has seen horses effectively have to serve a 6-month embargo if they come back to Australia from Hong Kong.

"I know you've got some fantastic races, in both Sydney and Melbourne. I’d be there with bells if it wasn't for the Hong Kong embargo," he said. "I'm dying to come back to Australia. "