Golden Sixty Makes Hong Kong History, Eyes Japan Next

Jockey Vincent Ho, normally not one to wear his heart on his sleeve, had a big grin on his face at the 100-meter mark in the April 24 FWD Champions Mile (G1) at Sha Tin Racecourse, and no wonder as his horse, Golden Sixty, was on cruise control to a rewrite of the Hong Kong record books.

After easily blowing by pacesetter and main rival California Spangle in mid-stretch, Golden Sixty strode out to take the Mile by two lengths, winning his record 21st Hong Kong race. He also surpassed Beauty Generation to grab the local earnings record and will likely earn a repeat Horse of the Year title.

The triumph provided a needed dose of star power as the ongoing pandemic-related travel restrictions precluded the usual top-shelf foreign competition in the day's three group 1 events.

In the other two races, Romantic Warrior pulled off a notable double, following his victory in the March 20 BMW Hong Kong Derby with a decisive two-length score in the FWD QE II Cup (G1), and Wellington landed the Chairman's Sprint Prize (G1) for the second straight year.

By any measure, though, the day in Hong Kong's New Territories belonged to Golden Sixty, a 6-year-old Australian-bred gelding by Medaglia d'Oro   out of the Distorted Humor  mare Gaudeamus. After suffering back-to-back defeats earlier in the season, the Francis Lui trainee made it clear he's far from done by winning his second straight group stakes race.

Golden Sixty ran his earnings to HK$113,400,600 (about US$14.45 million), easily breezing by the previous record of HK$106,233,750 (about US$13.54) amassed by Beauty Generation.

"He did well," Ho said. "He traveled comfortably and actually, when Zac (Purton, aboard California Spangle) steadied the pace a little bit, he started to travel a bit keen. But he is strong enough and brave enough to push through that gap and run them down easily."

Although there was no foreign competition in this year's Champions Mile, Golden Sixty has represented Hong Kong against all comers during international racing days for the past two years. Now, he may get a chance to test some of the best on their own ground as Lui confirmed plans to take his stable star to Japan for the June 5 Yasuda Kinen (G1) at Tokyo Racecourse.

"Yes, he is entered already," Lui said. "But, of course, we have to see how he recovers and we also need to see the quarantine, whether we can go and how the arrangements work. If everything is easy, we will go."

For those believing in omens: Hong Kong-trained Fairy King Prawn and Bullish Luck won the Yasuda Kinen in 2000 and 2006, respectively. The Champions Day program at Sha Tin included races named for each of them.

Romantic Warrior's victory in the QE II Cup was the stuff of romantic fiction. The 4-year-old Acclamation  gelding started the season in class 4 company at the in-town Happy Valley Racecourse—circumstances charitably described as well down the local class ladder.

Seven starts later, Romantic Warrior emerged from the pack in the final 200 meters of the 2,000-meter (about 1 1/4 miles) Queen Elizabeth II Cup to prevail by two lengths as the heavy favorite in his first effort at the group 1 level. He joined local superstars Werther , Designs on Rome , Ambitious Dragon , and Vengeance of Rain as Derby-QE II double winners.

His only loss came in the Hong Kong Classic Cup, won by California Spangle.

"The Derby was very special for all of us," said jockey Karis Teetan, who was celebrating the birth of a daughter five days earlier. "This race, we thought, was a good plan with no international horses coming. We had in mind that he's a bit younger than the other horses but he's better than all of them so he proved what kind of horse he is today."

Importantly for the Hong Kong Jockey Club, Romantic Warrior was a product of the 2021 Hong Kong International Sale. He was selected for the Club by Michael Kinane from the 2019 Tattersalls Sale at Newmarket and Peter Lau paid HK$4.8 million (about US$612,000) to acquire him. The win upped his earnings to HK$39.96 million (US$5.08 million).

"He's surprised me," said winning trainer Danny Shum. "When I bought him for Mr. Peter Lau, I thought he was a nice horse. That's all I could say. I thought in the Hong Kong International Sale he was the best horse but I didn't know how good he was."

The HKJC purchase-and-sale scheme is a high-risk, high-reward method for introducing new quality bloodstock into the Hong Kong racing scene, which currently lacks a breeding industry. The rewards couldn't get much higher for all concerned than Romantic Warrior's ascent.

Wellington's victory in the Chairman's Sprint Prize excelled him, too, into elite company. He became only the fourth to win the race in consecutive years during the modern era of Hong Kong racing.

"He really is one of the top sprinters in the world," enthused trainer Richard Gibson. "It's difficult to win these big group 1 races back to back. He's done it and it's a great achievement."

Gibson noted progress in Hong Kong's pandemic containment rules as owners were allowed to return to the track for the first time since January. But, he said, the ongoing contagion makes it difficult to think about international competition for Wellington.

"Covid changes every two weeks," he said. "It seems too difficult. We've had such a wonderful season and we've now got plenty of time to sit down with the owners and have a chat."