NZ Ready to Run Flagbearer Golden Sixty Back to Best

If anyone believed that a couple of recent defeats might have marked the beginning of the end for Golden Sixty (Medaglia d’Oro), the Hong Kong megastar sent them a message at Sha Tin on Sunday.

With a brilliant and dominant performance in the HK$4.75m Group Two Chairman’s Trophy (1600m), Golden Sixty brought up the 20th win of his 23-start career. He has now earned over HK$102 million – the equivalent of NZ$18.78 million, which is 62 times his $300,000 purchase price at Karaka’s 2017 Ready to Run Sale.

Sunday’s victory made Golden Sixty only the second horse in Hong Kong racing history to earn HK$100 million, and both of them are Karaka graduates – the first was Beauty Generation (NZ) (Road to Rock).

Golden Sixty has reigned as Hong Kong’s pin-up performer over the last three seasons, stringing together a sensational streak of 16 successive victories including two editions of the Group One Hong Kong Mile (1600m), along with the Group One Champions Mile (1600m), Stewards’ Cup (1600m), Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m) and the Hong Kong Derby (2000m).

The current Horse of the Year and a guaranteed all-time great of Hong Kong racing, Golden Sixty had to settle for surprising second and third placings in his two previous starts. But Sunday’s emphatic turnaround proved the old saying that class is permanent – and class is something that Golden Sixty has in spades.

Ridden by his regular jockey Vincent Ho, Golden Sixty cruised around the track in fourth place before putting his rivals to the sword in the straight. None of the 11 others in the field could dream of matching the hot favourite’s turn of foot through the last 300 metres, and he charged clear for an easy two-length win. He stopped the clock at a rapid 1:32.96.

“Golden Sixty has so many fans – thank you to everyone who supports him, and to Golden Sixty of course,” Ho said.

“I made a mistake when he got beaten. This time we drew barrier one, we had a perfect run and he always has a great turn of foot. It’s hard for horses behind to catch him.

“He’s still not at the top of his form yet, because he had some time off. I would say he was 70% or 80% today, and although he had a great turn of foot, he still has room for improvement, which is ideal heading into the Champions Mile (Group One, 1600m) at the end of the month. This race will bring him on for sure.”

Trainer Francis Lui was delighted to see his stable star back in the winning groove for owner Stanley Chan Ka Leung.

“He’s my champion,” Lui said. “The last two runs, he was just too far behind and Vincent had to come to the outside. This time, we drew barrier one and had no choice. He’s an honest horse, he can jump fast and you can put him into any position.”