Top horses prep for international races in Group 2s at Sha Tin

Who is the best sprinter in Hong Kong right now? Who knows? But the best miler and 10- to 12-furlong horses are in action during a three-stakes program Sunday at Sha Tin.

Golden Sixty, who almost certainly ranks as Hong Kong’s top current performer in any division, starts in the Group 2 Jockey Club Mile, while Exultant, best on the circuit in race at 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 miles, races in the Group 2 Jockey Club Cup over 2,000 meters (about 1 1/4 miles). These races are preps for the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile and Group 1 Hong Kong Cup next month, while Sunday’s Jockey Club Sprint is a stepping-stone to the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint.

Post time for Sunday’s 10-race program is 12:45 a.m. Eastern with wagering and live video available at DRFBets.com.

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Golden Sixty went undefeated through a seven-start 2019-20 Hong Kong season, sweeping Hong Kong’s version of the Triple Crown, and picked up this season with two more wins. In his first race back from a six-month layoff, Golden Sixty smacked down one-time Hong Kong kingpin Beauty Generation, whose star has fallen rapidly this season, and he comes into this race after a half-length score in the Group 3 Oriental Watch Sha Tin Trophy Stakes. Golden Sixty was on his way to a blowout victory that start when he stuck his feet in the ground a furlong from the finish and waited on his competition. That tendency to hang is not new, yet it has not prevented Golden Sixty from winning 12 times in his 13 Hong Kong races.

The New Zealand-bred 5-year-old gelding, trained by Francis Lui and ridden by Vincent Ho, faces just six foes Sunday, five of whom carry the same weight, 123 pounds, and Southern Legend, who totes 128. Golden Sixty’s two races this season are his only stakes starts against older horses, so his Hong Kong rating, which stands at 127, hasn’t yet caught up to his gaudy record or reputation.

Among the opposition Sunday is Mighty Giant, who enters on his own five-race winning streak but probably isn’t good enough to scare Golden Sixty at level weights and might prove better suited to races between 1,200 and 1,400 meters than this 1,600-meter trip.

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Exultant, Hong Kong’s Horse of the Year last season, finished second Nov. 1 in his first start since May 24, but Exultant was somewhat ring-rusty and gave 11 pounds to victorious Furore, who got a great setup and clipped past Exultant in the late stages of the 1,800-meter Sa Sa Ladies Purse. Sunday’s start over 2,000 meters tilts things back toward Exultant, who should have benefited from his comeback run and now gives a maximum of five pounds to his eight foes. This start is a second stepping-stone toward the Hong Kong Cup next month, and connections might be cautious about asking for too much on Sunday since Exultant won the 2019 Jockey Club Cup by nearly two lengths but finished a disappointing third three weeks later in the Hong Kong Cup.

Voyage Warrior could post a mild surprise in the Jockey Club Sprint, a race that could – but probably won’t – help clarify the top of the local sprint division. Hong Kong long has been home to sensational sprinters but the well appears to have at least briefly run dry, at least at the very top level. Hot King Prawn, who ran well in all eight of his starts last season while winning just one of them, is top-rated at 126 in Sunday’s 1,200-meter contest and makes his second start of the season following a fourth-place finish in his first start after a break.

Voyage Warrior also hits the second start of his form cycle and at his peak last season notched a wire-to-wire win in the Group 2 Sprint Cup in April, perhaps bouncing to a seventh-place finish just three weeks later, the final start of his campaign. Big Party, Big Time Baby, and Computer Patch also are plausible winners, and one of Hong Kong’s sharpest sprinters, Winning Dreamer, races later on the card.

Four-year-old Winning Dreamer has started his career with four wins, rising from a Class 4 handicap in his debut last season into a Class 2, race 10, on Sunday. He gets into this 1,200-meter handicap at a comfortable 122 pounds and can nudge his climbing Hong Kong rating even higher than the 86 it reached following his latest tally.