3 minute read
The origins of Sunday’s Hong Kong Derby favourite Beauty Eternal
Like most Aussie breeders, Peter Raftopoulos dreams of coming up with a mating plan for a horse capable of winning a Melbourne Cup, Cox Plate or Golden Slipper.
The Hong Kong Derby isn't necessarily a race on his radar.
But by as soon as Sunday afternoon he could be in a position to boast that he has bred the winner of one Hong Kong's biggest races with Beauty Eternal favourite for the 2000-metre Group 1.
The man known to the racing world as 'Raff' has been busy following the Australian yearling sale circuit and earlier this week was selling in Adelaide, but he is taking the opportunity to be trackside at Sha Tin even though his ownership of Beauty Eternal ended with his sale at the 2020 Inglis Classic Sale.
"I thought, 'this is a once-in-a-lifetime sort of thing, you've got to go'," he said.
"It's a special feeling to have bred a horse like him. If he wins, I'll be like a proud father."
Beauty Eternal, a son of Starspangledbanner and Ithacan Queen, has been a revelation on the Hong Kong scene, winning four of his five starts.
Not bad for a horse that John Foote paid $90,000 for in the Highway Session at Classic.
Beauty Eternal is the fourth foal from the Savabeel mare Ithacan Queen, whose third foal Love Sensation is a three-time winner and placed at Group 3 level but had not raced at the time Beauty Eternal went through the sale ring.
Ithacan Queen's other products are Invincible King, an I Am Invincible gelding who has one win from 25 starts, and unraced mare Pennyloupe.
Ithacan Queen missed to Starspangledbanner, a son of Choisir, the year between Invincible King and Pennyloupe but Raftopoulos returned to the Rosemont stallion for one reason in particular.
"Choisir and Zabeel, I always thought was a very good cross and that was the closest thing that I could get to it," he said.
Beauty Eternal operated under the name Teamyouessa in Australia and had two trials at Cranbourne while in the care of Allan and Jason Williams, heading to Hong Kong after an impressive win in the second of them.
"Kevin Corstens had Love Sensation at the time and he'd say, 'it goes pretty good this thing (Beauty Eternal)', but I don't think they thought he was going to go to these sort of heights."
Beauty Eternal's deeds have only heightened Raftopoulos's desire to get Ithacan Queen back in foal.
She made ill-fated visits to Starspangledbanner the three years after Beauty Eternal was foaled, missed to Too Darn Hot in 2021 and failed to get in foal after visits to St Mark's Basilica and Farnan last season.
"We've had a bit of bad luck with her, but I've got the vets onto it doing a few different things with her this season, but I'm not sure who I'm going to with her."