Hong Kong: Golden Sixty returns to action in Jockey Club Mile

Hong Kong’s best horse the last two seasons, Golden Sixty, returns from a seven-month layoff Sunday at Sha Tin in the Group 2, $640,000 Jockey Club Mile.

This is the first racing program of the 2022-23 Hong Kong season carrying international reverberations, the Jockey Club Mile one of three preps for the Hong Kong International Races next month. The exciting Romantic Warrior also makes his first start of the term, but Golden Sixty, who faces the talented 4-year-old California Spangle and just five other foes, takes center stage.

A 7-year-old on Southern Hemisphere time, Golden Sixty fooled some Hong Kong pundits into thinking his reign was coming to an end when, for the first time in his career, he lost two straight races last season. But it was the humans around him, not the horse, responsible for the setbacks. Golden Sixty was being ridden Silky Sullivan style, held up far behind the leaders to make one swooping run. That left him at the mercy of pace and luck and, it turned out, was entirely unnecessary.

Kept much closer to the pace by jockey Vincent Ho, Golden Sixty closed out his last form cycle with dominant wins over his favored 1,600-meter distance, and there’s an excellent chance he wins the Jockey Club Mile for the second year in a row while running his career mark to 22 wins from 25 starts.

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Winning the Champions Mile this past spring, Golden Sixty raced at level weights with California Spangle, but in the Jockey Club Mile, California Spangle gets five pounds from his more accomplished foe. And while Golden Sixty will be looking to shake off rust, California Spangle already has notched two wins this season and might be able to use his speed to control the pace. Will it be enough for an upset? Probably not.

As good as California Spangle was last season, Romantic Warrior was the best 4-year-old racing in Hong Kong, winning seven times in eight starts. His lone defeat, a fourth-place finish in the Hong Kong Classic Cup, won wire to wire by California Spangle, strictly was a function of a bad post and a worse trip.

Romantic Warrior, like California Spangle an Irish import, got better and better as the season wore on and now is a leading hope for the Group 1 Hong Kong Cup next month. He comes back for trainer Clifford Shum at the Hong Kong Cup’s 2,000-meter distance while facing eight rivals Sunday in the Jockey Club Cup. Beauty Joy, an older horse with two races already this season, gets five pounds from Romantic Warrior, has a better post, and appears to be the main danger under Zac Purton.

The Jockey Club Cup caps the stakes action, which starts with the Jockey Club Sprint over 1,200 meters. The Hong Kong sprint division has lacked a clear pecking order for a couple seasons now and Sunday’s race is emblematic of that state, drawing a 14-runner field that hardly could be more competitive.

First post for the 10-race card is 11:45 p.m. Eastern. Catch all the action at DRFBets.com.

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