Hong Kong's Champions Day Has Four of World's Best

Four of the world's top-rated horses will defend Hong Kong's honor April 30 at Sha Tin Racecourse in three group 1 races comprising Champions Day.

Golden Sixty faces off with California Spangle in the Champions Mile (G1). Golden Sixty holds the second spot, behind only Equinox , in the current Longines World's Best Racehorse rankings while California Spangle is tied with two others for the sixth spot.

Romantic Warrior and Lucky Sweynesse are knotted in fourth on the rankings. Romantic Warrior features in the QE II Cup (G1) at 2,000 meters (about 1 1/4 miles) and Lucky Sweynesse should be the pick in the Chairman's Sprint Prize (G1) at 1,200 meters (about six furlongs).

There's a lot at stake besides the HK$65 million (about US$8.2 million) purse money.

Golden Sixty looks to cement his third straight Hong Kong Horse of the Year title with a win and also, according to local tallykeepers, could pass Arrogate  and Almond Eye  to take second in global career earnings, behind only Winx . Lucky Sweynesse would dislodge two-time local sprint champ Wellington should he handle that rival again.

Golden Sixty, a 7-year-old Medaglia d'Oro   gelding, has won two of their last three meetings, including last year's edition of this race. But he seeks to avenge a second-place finish, by a neck, to California Spangle in December's Hong Kong Mile (G1).

Jockey Vincent Ho took Golden Sixty for a spin during trackwork hours April 27 and issued positive reports.

"He's well and he felt good. He's fit and he looks amazing. He felt great underneath me," Ho said.

Trainer Francis Lui shrugged off suggestions there's pressure attendant to handling arguably Hong Kong's greatest-ever runner.

"I don't feel any pressure, The pressure before the race is that I hope he can win, always. I am calm now. ... Every time we plan, we do it after the race and my future plan is another Hong Kong Mile in December," Lui said.

Lui did leave the door open to trying the Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (G1) May 28, the finale of Hong Kong's demanding "Triple Crown" for older horses. Golden Sixty already has landed the first two legs—the Stewards' Cup (G1) at 1,600 meters (about one mile) and the Hong Kong Gold Cup (G1) at 2,000 meters. The Champions & Chater Cup would require a stretch out to 2,400 meters (about 1 1/2 miles).

"We are thinking about the Triple Crown (but) if we don't go for the Triple Crown it will be his last run for this season," Lui said.

The California Spangle camp faces the task of getting the jump on their rival from gate 8, just to his outside. When California Spangle upset Golden Sixty in December, the key was jockey Zac Purton's ability to get the lead and control the tempo.

"California Spangle's got early speed to lead this race," said trainer Tony Cruz. "In the international race, we went to the front and Golden Sixty had to go around the field and lost a bit of ground and couldn't catch California Spangle. We have the same plan but it's a small field this time. I still think it will be a close finish"

The international challengers are Aegon and My Oberon . A win by either would be a surprise.

The Chairman's Sprint Prize represents a final chance for Wellington to grab the local sprint title for a third straight year. To do that, he will have to turn the tables on his younger rival, Lucky Sweynesse, who has defeated him rather handily in their last three races. Wellington did win the Hong Kong Sprint (G1) in December with Lucky Sweynesse sixth but Lucky Sweynesse was totally boxed on the rail through the stretch run.

"It's very rare when a horse comes back for a third time to defend his title in any division and to do it in group 1, it's exceptional and we'll fight every yard for it," said Wellington's trainer, Richard Gibson.

Flaming Rib  from England and Aguri from Japan make up the international contingent.

The QE II Cup finds Romantic Warrior in search of a repeat Champions Day victory but the 5-year-old Acclamation  gelding faces what shapes up as the toughest bunch of raiders on the program.

Dubai Honour , based in England, arrives in Hong Kong off a pair of group 1 victories in Australia. Danon the Kid, second to Romantic Warrior in the December international, heads a quartet of Japanese challengers.

The Japanese squad also includes the exquisitely bred Geraldina, by Maurice  out of seven-time group 1 winner Gentildonna , who seems to be coming into her own at age 5. Maurice was undefeated in three trips to Hong Kong, landing the Hong Kong Mile (G1) in 2015 and both the Champions Mile and the Hong Kong Cup (G1) in 2016.