Golden Sixty’s (Medaglia d’Oro) rehearsal for next month’s Gr.1 Hong Kong Mile (1600m) went according to plan on Sunday at Sha Tin as he brushed aside six rivals to claim the Gr.2 BOCHKJockey Club Mile (1600m).
The reigning Hong Kong Horse of the Year extended his winning streak to 15 with a sublime last-to-first effort under jockey Vincent Ho.
Last defeated in July of 2019, the brilliant son of Medaglia d’Oro looked in fine fettle as he launched from his customary position to score by a length, clocking 1m 34.55s ahead of the dual Group One winner Waikuku (Harbour Watch) and last season’s Hong Kong Derby (2000m) hero Sky Darci (NZ) (Darci Brahma).
Ho was pleased with his mount’s first-up performance following three trials in preparation for his seasonal return.
“He definitely wasn’t at his best today and we’re still building him up. After this race he should be pretty close to his top form,” Ho said. “We’ll see how he pulls up and do some recovery work on him and get him ready for the Internationals.”
Sunday’s victory takes Golden Sixty to a record-equalling 18 career wins in Hong Kong, alongside only Beauty Generation (NZ) (Road to Rock) and Silent Witness (El Moxie), while his sequence of 15 successive victories has him just two shy of Silent Witness’ record-setting 17 in a row.
Trainer Francis Lui was equally as pleased with his star galloper’s effort.
“I must say we were confident in this race but I’m happy to see him win again. This horse has got a very good fighting heart and once he relaxes he has a very good turn of foot,” Lui said.
Golden Sixty was purchased by his trainer out of Riversley Park’s 2017 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale draft for $300,000.
