Golden Sixty gets it done in Hong Kong Classic Cup

Neither a recent illness nor a longer distance could stop Golden Sixty from winning another race in Hong Kong.

Golden Sixty pushed his record to nine wins from 10 starts as he bolted to a half-length win Sunday at Sha Tin in the $1.28 million Hong Kong Classic Cup.

The characteristics that have facilitated the glittering record went on overt display in the Classic Cup, where Golden Sixty used his elite athleticism to switch paths while hot on horses heels, then showed off his exceptional acceleration to get through a tight and closing hole and sprit home to victory.

Closing from eighth place in a 10-horse field under Hong Kong-born jockey Vincent Ho, Golden Sixty got his nose in front of Champions Way 50 meters from the finish, and while Champions Way ran well in defeat, there was no doubt of the superior horse on the day.

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Another half-length back in third came Golden Sixty’s Francis Lui-trained stablemate More Than This, a good horse in his own right but one who has lacked the acceleration to keep Golden Sixty from getting to his gap at the 200-meter mark. More Than This came under a ride midway on the far turn and rallied on the far outside as Ho followed Ryan Moore on Champions Way into the heat of battle from the no. 3 path off the turn and into the homestretch. Had More Than This quickened sufficiently at the 200 meters, he’d have been bearing down on Champions Way with Golden Sixty trying to find a different path to the wire; instead, it was Golden Sixty bursting clear and going onto victory.

Enjoying came from last and while never a threat to win this race was traveling well enough in the late stages and could be a decent candidate for the Hong Kong Derby over 2,000 meters. The Classic Cup’s disappointment was Beauty Legacy, who seemed fine during the first quarter-mile of this 1,800-meter, one-turn race before trying to run off with jockey Joao Moreira entering the turn. He finished sixth and remains a work in progress.

Golden Sixty has done nothing but progress since he started off his career in Hong Kong a little less than a year ago a 52-rated horse in a Class 4 handicap. Goden Sixty, rated 112 coming into the Classic Cup, won his first three starts before a 10th-place finish last July in his final start of the season. He’s now 6 for 6 during the 2019-20 Hong Kong season and had no trouble stretching out to a distance beyond 1,600 meters for the first time while adding the Classic Cup to his success in the Hong Kong Classic Mile, first leg of the 4-year-old classic series. Now it is on to the Hong Kong Derby over a distance that, following Sunday’s performance, appears to lie within Golden Sixty’s range.

The Australian-bred gelding has an American-slanted pedigree as a son of Medaglia d’Oro and the Distorted Humor mare Gaudeamus. Gaudeamus, out of the Seattle Slew mare Leo’s Lucky Lady, was sold for $60,000 at Keeneland’s September 2005 yearling sale before campaigning in England and Ireland for trainer Jim Bolger.

Golden Sixty’s eye-catching Sunday showing belied the troubled preparation he had between the Classic Mile and the Classic Cup.

“Everybody knew he had a temperature two weeks ago,” Liu said. “I was very worried he would miss this race, I tried everything to work it out and finally we got it and he still performed today; he was a bit keen before the race so I was worried, but he relaxed for Vincent and he is very tough.”

Post 10 did More Than This no favors and Liu talked after the race about the possibility, on jockey Zac Purton’s suggestion, of adding blinkers. The longer distance in the Derby should, in theory, boost More Than This’s chances of turning the tables on his stablemate, but Golden Sixty might in the end just have too much talent.