Bentley & Preciousship Break Beauty Record

Ironically named jockey Harry Bentley travelled as smoothly as a luxury vehicle on Sunday afternoon when he steered 5YO gelding Preciousship (Iffraaj-Riyaba, by Dalakhani) to a slick inside-run win in the Class One Sha Tin Mile Trophy. The real context though is that he also stopped the clock at 1.32.24 for the mile and in doing so shredded .40 off the previous course record clocked by eight-time Group 1 winner Beauty Generation (Road To Rock). A modest Bentley summed up proceedings to scmp.com, “It’s a fantastic achievement and I’m really pleased to have won a race of this prestige. I hear it’s in record time as well which is quite something." He added, “My race went incredibly smoothly with a very even gallop and [Preciousship] was able to quicken up the pace.” The 29-year-old Bentley has now won 4 races since commencing his HK riding stint in April and the media headlines will only help to propel him into the new season. Bentley reasoned, “Of late obviously I’ve been getting some better horses and being more in the frame, which is fantastic. I’m very appreciative to Ricky Yiu, he’s given me my most support since I’ve been here in Hong Kong and it’s my first win for him. To repay his faith is great.”