Hong Kong: Golden Sixty tries for Champions Mile three-peat at Sha Tin

There are but 24 entrants combined in the three Group 1 races Sunday at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong. Four Japan-based horses shipped for the card, called Champions Day, as well as two horses each from Europe and Australia – all in all, not an especially compelling turnout.

But any time the great Golden Sixty sees action, it’s racing worth watching, and Golden Sixty on Sunday will be trying to win the $2.55 million Champions Mile for the third year in a row.

Win it he’d better, having been sent down the path of least resistance this spring. The 7-year-old gelding long ago proved his Hong Kong superstardom, but after flirting with a trip to Dubai for the $5 million Dubai Turf on March 25, he stayed home. Also considered was a start Sunday in the $3.18 million Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, the program’s richest race and at 2,000 meters slightly outside Golden Sixty’s zone of true comfort. That, too, was nixed, with Golden Sixty sticking to what he always has done best – run a one-turn mile at Sha Tin.

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Golden Sixty in his most recent start beat the QE II favorite Romantic Warrior going 2,000 meters in the Hong Kong Gold Cup. Sunday it is back to one mile, over which Golden Sixty has compiled a record of 12-2-0 from 14 starts, the heart of a career that’s seen the gelding win 24 times from 28 outings. A two-race losing streak during the 2021-22 season roused speculation that Golden Sixty had gone beyond his best, but he roared back to top form to close his campaign with a pair of emphatic wins.

And after finishing second with no apparent excuse this past December in the Hong Kong Mile, Golden Sixty once again silenced doubters in the Group 1 Stewards Cup. There, he easily beat Romantic Warrior and the horse who’d vanquished him in the Hong Kong Mile, California Spangle. His encore performance in the Gold Cup on Feb. 26 showcased an aging beast still somehow at the peak of his powers.

California Spangle and his dangerous speed pose the only clear obstacle Sunday to another triumph for Golden Sixty, a Distorted Humor gelding trained by Francis Lui and ridden by Vincent Ho. Ho’s willingness this season to allow Golden Sixty more early rein, placing him closer to the pace, makes Golden Sixty less susceptible to the vagaries of pace. California Spangle is a far younger horse with more upside, but until proven otherwise, Golden Sixty remains his better.

Romantic Warrior never has left Hong Kong since he arrived an unraced horse from Ireland, while QE II rival Dubai Honour has traveled thousands and thousands of miles around the world. Trained by the England-based William Haggas, Dubai Honour comes to Hong Kong after a two-race Australian stint that produced a victory April 8 at Randwick in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes. The Australian junket followed starts in England, France, Dubai, and Hong Kong, where Dubai Honour finished fourth in the 2021 Hong Kong Cup. His April 8 score came on a soft course, and while Dubai Honour has run to form over a variety of surfaces, he’ll still find Romantic Warrior a formidable rival.

Romantic Warrior had an impossible trip in his lone loss during the 2021-22 Hong Kong season. He dominated the Hong Kong Cup over this 2,000-meter trip in December, and the only reason he comes into the QE II on a two-race losing streak is the existence of Golden Sixty. Danon the Kid, the best among three Japan-based starters in the QE II, finished second several months ago in the Hong Kong Cup, beaten 4 1/2 lengths by Romantic Warrior.

Lucky Sweynesse, the star of the Hong Kong sprint division, has Zac Purton aboard in the 1,200-meter Champions Sprint and should take care of business facing seven opponents, including Flaming Rib from England and Aguri from Japan.

All the stakes are run at level weights.

First post for the 10-race card is 12:45 a.m. Eastern.

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