Golden Sixty continued his winning ways in Hong Kong on Sunday when taking out the HK$10 million Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m) at Sha Tin for trainer Francis Lui.
Lui purchased the colt out of Riversley Park’s 2017 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale draft for $300,000 and Riversley Park principal Sam Beatson was delighted with the win.
“It was pretty exciting to watch,” Beatson said. “He has got a great strike-rate having now won nine of his 10 races up in Hong Kong.
“Sometimes horses can take a little while to get started, whereas he acclimatised well and straight off the bat he was away.”
Beatson is now looking forward to the HK$18 million Hong Kong Derby (2000m) next month.
“It’s exciting heading into the Derby off of that run,” Beatson said. “He settled nicely and still had his turn of foot at the end of it. You would think he would be pretty hard to beat come 2000m.”
Beatson pinhooked the son of Medaglia d’Oro as a yearling for A$120,000 and said it helped that he didn’t look like a precocious type as a yearling.
“He was just a natural athlete,” he said. “We loved his pedigree and he didn’t look like a real two-year-old that a lot of people were trying to buy at that Gold Coast sale. He looked more like a three-year-old. We just loved the way he moved and his athleticism.”
Golden Sixty confirmed Beatson’s judgment in his ready-to-run prep, where he was a natural from day one.
“He didn’t need a lot of galloping, he was a really natural galloper,” Beatson said. “He had two gallops and he went into the breeze-ups off that because he was so natural.”
While Beatson has had plenty of success selling to Hong Kong, with the likes of Champion Griffin Pick Number One, he said Golden Sixty is his highest achieving graduate to date.
“We have sold a lot of good horses to Hong Kong, but a horse like this doesn’t come along very often,” he said.
“It’s always good to get results with horses that you have bought and sold yourself.
“In the last couple of years we have sold some real quality horses, so I am sure there will be a few more coming out of those drafts. The quality we are selling now is getting better and better.”
While looking forward to the Hong Kong Derby, Beatson is being kept busy at home breaking-in and buying yearlings and he admits it’s a bit of a juggling act.
“We are breaking-in about 40 at the moment,” he said. “It’s hard to be at home and doing a lot of breaking-in, plus buy horses. We try and work it in, but this year I have struggled to get away.”
Beatson has had plenty of success with his Ready To Run drafts over the years and he said he has a simple formula when it comes to buying yearlings for the sale.
“You have got to buy an athlete at the end of the day,” he said. “We do like to buy a bit of pedigree, but we don’t have the money other people have to buy those big top-end horses, so we have to buy off type first and foremost and pedigree comes second.
“If you can get both, like we did with Golden Sixty, then that’s fantastic. But a lot of the time you have to forgive something and generally it is a bit of pedigree.”
A visit to Hong Kong to watch Golden Sixty in the Derby is a possibility, however, Beatson said they will take a wait and see approach over the next few weeks.
“I would love to go up and watch him,” he said. “My wife (Hannah) is pretty keen to go up, but we will see how the next few weeks go.
“If he is looking like he is going to come into it nicely, we may make the trip up there, but I think this coronavirus might scare a few people away too.
“I am sure there will be another Group One to go up and watch, he will be around for a while by the look of things.” – NZ Racing Desk
