Near-perfect Golden Sixty once again looks unbeatable in Hong Kong Mile

You never truly know how a horse, even a top horse, will come back from a long layoff. Golden Sixty, the best Thoroughbred in Hong Kong returned with a vengeance.

Back from a seven-month layoff, Golden Sixty got stuck racing last behind a crawling pace Nov. 21 in the Jockey Club Mile. No worries. Clocking a dazzling 43.10 seconds for his final 800 meters, Golden Sixty put six overmatched local rivals in their place, posting a one-length victory. Sunday, his legend growing by the start, Golden Sixty will try to take his place among two-time winners of the Hong Kong Mile, facing 10 foes in the most anticipated of the four Group 1s among the Hong Kong International Races.

The last two-time Hong Kong Mile winner was Beauty Generation, who pulled the feat in 2017 and 2018. Golden Sixty followed in Beauty Generation’s footsteps as Hong Kong’s top horse and in the $3.34 million Mile, Golden Sixty, who has won 18 of 19 career starts, goes for his 16th straight victory.

“In all of a lifetime I think you can’t find this kind of horse. I’m lucky and Hong Kong is lucky to have him, too,” trainer Francis Lui Kin-wai said.

The Hong Kong Mile goes as race 7, the third of the four Group 1s on a 10-race card that starts at 11:25 p.m. Eastern on Saturday night. The stakes races begin with the Hong Kong Vase, race 4, followed by the Hong Kong Sprint, the Mile, and the Hong Kong Cup. Live video and wagering is available at DRFBets.com. The weekend weather looks ideal, with sunshine and highs in the 70s. The Sha Tin course should be good to firm and quick.

There might be no other horse in the world quicker through the final quarter-mile of a one-mile grass race than Golden Sixty, a 6-year-old Australian-bred with an American-leaning pedigree – by Medaglia d’Oro out of Gaudeamus, by Distorted Humor. He has cut things close at times during this long winning streak, capturing four races by a head or a nose, and on many occasions jockey Vincent Ho Chak-yui has found himself in a precarious position turning into the Sha Tin homestretch. Golden Sixty can pull hard for his head, and the one start in which connections let him race close to the pace, back in July 2019, was the one time Golden Sixty tasted defeat.

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Sunday’s stakes races are weight-for-age, and all in the Mile carry 126 pounds, save 3-year-old Mother Earth, who packs 121 pounds because of age and sex allowances. Mother Earth, who has shipped from Ireland for trainer Aidan O’Brien, finished 12th last out in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, a poor showing that was better than another Hong Kong Mile runner, Vin de Garde, who was 14th. But there are much better Japanese horses set to face Golden Sixty than Vin de Garde.

Six-year-old Indy Champ is a known commodity, seventh in the 2019 Hong Kong Mile and, barring something unforeseen, not good enough to win Sunday. Salios might have been Japan’s second-best 3-year-old of 2020 behind the great Contrail, but has struggled in three starts this season. Danon Kingly, however, could be the top horse Golden Sixty has ever faced. Hitting a career peak this year at age 5, Danon Kingly makes his first trip to Hong Kong for just his third start of 2021. In June, he won the Grade 1 Yasuda Kinen over one mile, defeating champion mare Gran Alegria, and on Oct. 10, Danon Kingly finished second, beaten a head, in a nine-furlong Grade 2 at Tokyo. The only horse in front of him was Schnell Meister, an elite Japanese 3-year-old to whom Danon Kingly gave weight, and if Danon Kingly can reproduce that performance level, he can give the Hong Kong star a legitimate challenge.

Hong Kong Sprint

With the Hong Kong sprint division looking lackluster for the second racing season in a row, Japanese shippers could have the best of things Sunday in the $3.08 million Hong Kong Sprint.

The 1,200-meter contest drew a field of 12 when drawn Thursday, nine local horses plus Danon Smash, Pixie Knight, and Resistencia from Japan.

Danon Smash finished eighth in the 2019 Sprint but pulled an upset in the 2020 renewal. He’s a 6-year-old, and the other two Japanese runners – 3-year-old Pixie Knight and 4-year-old Resistencia – likely have a stronger case.

That pair has traded decisions this fall in Japan, Resistencia coming out on top of a Grade 2 in September before Pixie Knight turned the tables in the Grade 1 Sprinters Stakes on Oct. 3, beating Resistencia by two lengths. Pixie Knight is by Maurice, who shipped three times to Hong Kong for Group 1 wins, including victories in the 2015 Hong Kong Mile and the 2016 Hong Kong Cup. Pixie Knight, drawn well enough in post 8, can follow his father and win a major Hong Kong race Sunday.