Starspangled Sprinter Wins G3 National Day Cup
The Group III National Day Cup (1000m) at Sha Tin on Tuesday delivered a new stakes-winner for Starspangledbanner when Irish bred gelding Beauty Waves (4g Starspangledbanner x Little Sweetheart, by Lawman) charged to the line to win in a slick 55.72 seconds.
Trained by Pierre Ng and ridden by Alexis Badel, Beauty Waves was a winner in Ireland at Dundalk as a two year-old before being sold to Hong Kong and the four year-old has made good progress through his grades.
Second when returning this season behind highly rated sprinter Ka Ying Rising, he proved the strength of that form when forging clear to win by half a length.
Ng indicated his planning with Beauty Waves would be dictated by how high the 93-rater rises in the handicap following this first Black Type success.
“He improves every race for me. Last time we were running against a very good horse (Ka Ying Rising) and he still ran second. He did everything well today,” Ng said. “We’ll see how many points he’s going to be put up.”
Winning rider Alexis Badel was full of praise for Beauty Waves.
“I was confident. He’s a good horse, he only got beaten last time by a very special horse. Coming back to a shorter trip didn’t worry me. He’s got class and he’s got speed,” said Badel.
“He began very well and I didn’t want to face the breeze the whole way. I was just trying to rate him as good as possible and his class with the light weight (115lb) made the difference.”
With five wins and seven placings from 14 starts, Beauty Waves has been super consistent and is the best of two winners from Little Sweetheart, a winning half-sister by Lawman to stakes-winner Queen Amira from stakes-winner Lady Gin.
He is the 45th stakes-winner for Starspangledbanner, who is back in Australia this spring at a fee of $44,000.