Golden Sixty uses Jockey Club Mile to show he's Hong Kong's best

Golden Sixty cemented his position as Hong Kong’s best horse with a ridiculously authoritative win Sunday at Sha Tin in the Group 2 Jockey Club Mile, and regardless of who shows up next month for the Hong Kong International Races, Golden Sixty will be formidable in the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile.

Blistering his final 400 meters in 21.69 seconds, Golden Sixty won the Jockey Club Mile by 1 1/2 lengths over Ka Ying Star and Southern Legend. While that pair ambled along racing one-two on a slow pace, Golden Sixty was shuffled back while stuck between horses around the far turn, losing the decent position he’d obtained going into the turn.

Did jockey Vincent Ho seem to care about his predicament? He did not. Golden Sixty made his own room coming to the 400-meter marker, knifing between horses and jumping onto and past the pacesetters with a vastly superior turn of foot. Golden Sixty, as is his wont, eased up after going clear but still won easily, clocking 1:32.91 for 1,600 meters over a zippy, good-to-firm course.

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Golden Sixty now has won 12 of his 13 career starts. After winning his first three races he finished 10th in his 2018–2019 season finale before going on to a perfect seven-race campaign – including Hong Kong’s version of the Triple Crown – in the 2019-2020 season. Golden Sixty now is 3 for 3 this term and appears primed for his sternest test yet in the Hong Kong Mile. The 5-year-old bred on Southern Hemisphere time is by Medaglia d’Oro out of Gaudeamus, by Distorted Humor. Francis Lui trains him for owner Stanley Chan ka Leung.

In other Sunday action, Furore defeated Hong Kong’s reigning Horse of the Year, Exultant, for the second time this fall, rushing past him in upper stretch en route to a three-quarters-length win in the Group 2 Jockey Club Cup. Exultant was caught wide into the first of two turns after breaking from post 9 and was used early to avoid more ground loss than that, but it still would be difficult to argue Furore didn’t beat him on the square Sunday. Furore did sit a golden trip, saving ground on the rail while racing behind pacesetting Time Warp and tracking Exultant, yet when jockey Joao Moreira tipped Furore out entering the homestretch, Exultant offered little as Furore stormed to the lead.

Furore had a start under his belt while Exultant made his seasonal debut Nov. 1 in the Sa Sa Ladies Purse, and at 1,800 meters, that race fell short of Exultant’s best distance, so when Furore won by 1 1/4 lengths, it seemed like a result Exultant could reverse Sunday over 2,000 meters. But Exultant, who gave Furore, his Tony Cruz-trained stablemate, five pounds in the Jockey Club Cup, merely looked like the second-best horse on this day, though all could be part of the plan to get Exultant to next month’s Hong Kong Cup at a peak. Furore, who went winless in 10 starts last season, is a 6-year-old New Zealand-bred by Pierro out of Stormy Choice, by Redoute’s Choice.

The Group 2 Jockey Club Sprint saw Hot King Prawn overcome a three-wide trip without cover to post a three-quarters-length win over favored Computer Patch. Another winner for Moreira, Hot King Prawn failed to get into the number 2 path going into the turn and was stuck out in the wind all the way around the bend, yet pushed on resolutely to run down Computer Patch as 50-1 Rattan, off slowly, came late and wide to nab third.

John Size trains Hot King Prawn, a 6-year-old son of Denman and the Unbridled’s Song mare De Chorus. Hot King Prawn, now bound for another run in the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint, clocked 1:08 for 1,200 meters, which was just .14 seconds faster than Winning Dreamer’s time in the Sunday nightcap.

One of the most exciting younger horses in Hong Kong, Winning Dreamer won a Class 2 handicap by 1 1/2 lengths under 122 pounds. The Frankie Lor-trained 4-year-old now is undefeated in five starts and is due another serious ratings hike after coming into Sunday’s start with a mark of 86.