Golden Sixty dazzles with Hong Kong Mile triumph

It was an excellent day for jockey Ryan Moore, and a fine afternoon for Japanese racehorses, but the star of Sunday’s Hong Kong International Races at Sha Tin was Hong Kong’s own Golden Sixty, who swept to a dazzling victory in the Group 1, $3.23 million Hong Kong Mile.

Golden Sixty was the strong Mile favorite, but the ease with which he overwhelmed a solid field for his first Group 1 success came with some surprise.

Rating kindly under jockey Vincent Ho, just two horses behind him and seven in front leaning into the Mile’s one turn, Golden Sixty required only a handful of strides to quicken into a contending position when his rider gave him more rein midway around the bend. Racing wide, Golden Sixty latched onto the back of the lead group with a field-best 22.50-second third 400 meters. He finished them off with a final 400-meter sectional in 22.05, nearly a quarter-second faster than anyone else’s finish.

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Golden Sixty has a habit of pulling himself up after making the lead and he did so again today, but only just before the wire after he’d built a considerable advantage. Winning margin was two lengths, final time for the 1,600 meters over good going was 1:33.45.

Hong Kong-based Southern Legend rallied for second with 2019 HK Mile winner Admire Mars third. Beauty Generation finished a solid fifth in his career finale, while Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Order of Australia, who raced keenly, was sixth.

“I was worried about the horses from Japan and Ireland but now, after this race, he has shown me that he’s a champion,” said Francis Lui, who trains Golden Sixty for Stanley Chan Ka Leung.

Golden Sixty now has won 13 of his 14 career starts, all in Hong Kong, and ran his winning streak to 10. He swept Hong Kong’s version of the Triple Crown, the 4-year-old Championship Series, last season by winning races between one mile and 1 1/4 miles, and the 10 wins in a row include a start as short as 1,200 meters, about six furlongs.

Golden Sixty, by Medaglia d’Oro out of Gaudeamus, by Distorted Humor, has focused on miles during the first phase of his 2020 – 2021 season, but Lui, who said Golden Sixty wouldn’t ship outside Hong Kong this season, said before Sunday’s start that Golden Sixty could start in longer races early next year.

Even after his Mile win, Golden Sixty surely is Hong Kong’s top 2000-meter horse after international shippers, headed by the Japanese mare Normcore, took down the top four places in the Group 1, $3.61 Hong Kong Cup. Normcore, fourth last year in the HK Mile, rallied outside under Zac Purton and wore down fellow Japan-based runner Win Bright – last year’s Cup hero – to post a three-quarters-length win in the 2,000-meter cup. Third, losing a head bob to Win Bright, was favored Magical, who finished decently between horses while hampered, jockey Ryan Moore said, by a lack of pace in the race. Danon Premium was fourth, followed by second choice Furore, Dances With Dragon, Skaletti, and pacesetting Time Warp. Winning time was 2:00.50.

Christophe Soumillon had been scheduled to ride Normcore, but wasn’t able to clear Covid-19 quarantine and ride Sunday’s card. Kiyoshi Hagiwara trains Normcore, a daughter of Harbinger and Chronologist, by Kuronfune.

In the Group 1, $2.84-million Sprint, 22-1 Danon Smash, ridden by Moore, led a parade of longshots while posting a half-length victory. Jolly Banner, an 84-1 shot, finished second followed by 23-1 Rattan, 42-1 Wishful Thinker, and 144-1 Fat Turtle in fifth. Hot King Prawn, the 2-1 favorite, could do nothing with a favorable trip and checked in seventh, while second choice Classique Legend, making his Hong Kong debut, barely lifted a hoof finishing 11th.

Danon Smash, eighth in this race a year ago, came from eighth while closing on the outside to post a half-length win over Jolly Banner, getting 1,200 meters in 1:08.45. Takayuki Yasuda trains Danon Smash, a 5-year-old son of Lord Kanaloa – a two-time winner of the HK Sprint – and Spinning Wildcat, by Hard Spun.

It was all Mogul in the Group 1, $2.68 million Vase, the Aidan O’Brien-trained Ireland shipper three lengths better than favored runner-up Exultant. Exultant led on a moderate tempo under Purton while Mogul raced from fifth under Moore, but when Mogul engaged the leader past the 300-meter marker, Exultant had little fight.

“In reality I was in front sooner than would have been ideal today, but he took me there nicely,” Moore said. “When he gets in front, he maybe lacks a bit of concentration still, but he’s a beautiful-looking horse. He’s got a fantastic mind and it doesn’t stress him. He’ll be a really nice 4-year-old.”

Three-year-old Mogul, coming off a fifth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, is by Galileo out of Shastye, by Danehill. He ran 2,400 meters (about 1 1/2 miles) in 2:27.13 as the solid second choice in just a seven-horse field.

*** Beauty Generation, once the best horse in Hong Kong and one of the best in the world, was retired shortly after finishing fifth in the Mile. Beauty Generation raced three times without winning this season and clearly had lost a couple steps off his peak. The 8-year-old New Zealand-bred gelding was moved from the stable of trainer John Moore, who conditioned him through his glory days, to trainer David Hayes this season after Moore hit the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s mandatory retirement age. Beauty Generation won 10 races in a row between April 2018 and October 2019, five of them Group 1s, including two renewals of the Hong Kong Mile. Beauty Generation is by Road to Rock out of Stylish Bel, by Bel Esprit.

*** Winning Dreamer, an exciting prospect in the Hong Kong sprint division, ran his career mark to six wins from six starts with a one-length victory in a Class 2 handicap following the Sunday stakes. Frankie Lor trains Winning Dreamer, a 4-year-old son of Deep Field out of Markisa, by Danehill. Winning Dreamer won a Class 4 and a Class 3 in his two starts last season and has begun this term with a pair of Class 2 and Class 3 tallies, all by comfortable margins.