Luke Currie will have his first ride for trainer Tony Cruz this Sunday (16 October) at Sha Tin when he gets the leg-up on the quirky but ever-improving Beauty Joy in the HK$5 million G2 Oriental Watch Sha Tin Trophy Handicap (1600m).<\/p>
A five-time winner in Hong Kong from nine starts, Beauty Joy has reached a career-high rating of 117, however, an inexplicable win last start indicates there is plenty of room still to move as he commences his 2022 LONGINES Hong Kong International Races trail.<\/p>
\u201cHe looks like an exciting horse, he\u2019s stepping up but from what he\u2019s done so far it\u2019s very nice to be riding him,\u201d Currie said. \u201cI haven\u2019t had a ride for Tony Cruz yet and he\u2019s a legend of Hong Kong, so it\u2019s nice to have one for him and hopefully we can build a relationship and maybe with the horse too.\u201d<\/p>
Cruz is an iconic figure in the trainers\u2019 stand at Sha Tin, he was crowned Hong Kong Champion Jockey six times (1978\/79, 1980\/81, 1982\/83, 1983\/84, 1985\/86 & 1994\/95) and following his riding career, the 65-year-old has continued to excel as a trainer, best known for nurturing the likes of Silent Witness, California Memory and Exultant.<\/p>
He also trained Pakistan Star, arguably Hong Kong\u2019s most unpredictable galloper who \u2013 while brilliant on his day as a dual Group 1 winner \u2013 formed a puzzling reputation for pulling himself up in races.<\/p>
Beauty Joy\u2019s status for waywardness hasn\u2019t reached Pakistan Star\u2019s level yet but it was on show when he soared to the unlikeliest of victories under Zac Purton in last season\u2019s 2022 G3 Premier Cup Handicap (1400m) \u2013 stunning the crowd after conceding an enormous lead to rivals before sauntering home for victory.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Beauty Joy stuns in the Premier Cup.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
However, Purton\u2019s pairing with California Spangle for Cruz has opened the door for Currie to pilot Beauty Joy as the six-year-old shoots for a fourth consecutive win. \u00a0<\/p>
\u201cI know Zac\u2019s won on him so many times but Zac at the moment has got a lot of choices in races, so it\u2019d be nice if he can run well and I can stick with him if it\u2019s possible,\u201d Currie said.<\/p>
This will be Beauty Joy\u2019s first taste of Group 2 racing after arriving in the city as a four-time winner in Australia, including once at Listed Stakes level in Perth.<\/p>
\u201cThey\u2019re all handy horses but he just might be the type of horse that\u2019s on the way up, California Spangle is the standout but he (Beauty Joy) only has to bring the form that he has shown to be competitive again,\u201d Currie said.<\/p>
The entries for this Sunday\u2019s test also includes Panfield, Russian Emperor, Ka Ying Star, Senor Toba, Tourbillon Diamond, More Than This, Butterfield, Savvy Nine, Turin Redsun, Waikuku, Excellent Proposal and Cheerful Days.<\/p>
Currie, 41, is enjoying a solid start to the new campaign with three wins. Recently, the expatriate rider\u2019s family moved up from Australia to join him in Hong Kong.<\/p>
\u201cIt\u2019s nice to have them (family) here, it\u2019s such a tough place riding-wise in that there\u2019s so much going on and you\u2019ve got to think a lot, so it\u2019s nice to have your family around you and be able to relax with them, it makes it a lot easier than what last season was,\u201d he said.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6333″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Currie will take four rides at Happy Valley\u2019s midweek fixture on Wednesday evening (12 October), engaged to partner the Douglas Whyte-trained Smiling Face in the Class 5 Man Cheung Handicap (1650m).<\/p>
\u201cHe looks like a nice ride \u2013 his form is quite good. I know Douglas (Whyte) said that he would be a good ride, so I\u2019m looking forward to riding him,\u201d Currie said.<\/p>
Smiling Face is a consistent type who will step away from gate one under Currie second-up after closing nicely for fifth upon resumption at the end of September.<\/p>
Wednesday\u2019s (12 October) nine-race fixture at Happy Valley kicks off at 6.45pm with the second section of the Class 5 Pottinger Handicap (1000m).<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6332″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Luke Currie will have his first ride for trainer Tony Cruz this Sunday (16 October) at Sha Tin when he gets the leg-up on the quirky but ever-improving Beauty Joy in the HK$5 million G2 Oriental Watch Sha Tin Trophy Handicap (1600m).A five-time winner in Hong Kong from nine starts, Beauty… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":6331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"2normal","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/gentlemens-bow-tie-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6328"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/gentlemens-bow-tie-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/gentlemens-bow-tie-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/gentlemens-bow-tie-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/gentlemens-bow-tie-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6328"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/gentlemens-bow-tie-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6343,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/gentlemens-bow-tie-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6328\/revisions\/6343"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/gentlemens-bow-tie-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/gentlemens-bow-tie-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/gentlemens-bow-tie-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/gentlemens-bow-tie-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}