The Francis Lui trained Golden Sixty stretched his unbeaten run to fourteen straight victories with a magnificent effort at Sha Tin to take out the HK$20 million G1 FWD Champions Mile. The son of Medaglia d’Oro is undefeated since July 2019.
Golden Sixty is now just three wins off Silent Witness’s Hong Kong record unbeaten streak of seventeen wins … and the door also remains open for him to claim another slice of history in terms of tackling the final leg of Hong Kong’s Triple Crown, the Group 1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (2400m) on 23 May.
Golden Sixty has already won the first two legs of the Triple Crown … the Stewards’ Cup (1600m) and Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m) … and were he to go on and win the final leg, Golden Sixty would only be the second horse to land the Triple Crown after River Verdon, all the way back in 1994.
Clearly, he is a very special horse.
Golden Sixty’s latest win also formed part of another historical feat as jockey Vincent Ho became the first homegrown jockey to claim a Group 1 double on the same day when he followed up his win on Golden Sixty, one race later, by winning the Group 1 FWD QEII Cup (2000m) aboard Loves Only You for Japanese trainer Yoshito Yahagi.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Executive Director of Racing, Andrew Harding described Ho’s rise to international fame as “a very proud day in the history of the Racing Development Board.”
“The Club makes a very significant commitment and investment in local talent and development because we are absolutely committed to realising the potential that evidently does exist in Hong Kong,” Mr Harding said.
“It’s a significant investment in Vincent’s case. It meant a significant period of time overseas with Lance O’Sullivan. It goes beyond that. Once his apprenticeship finished, we worked with him to get exposure overseas and people like Ryan Moore saw his potential also and wanted to assist us.
“It also requires the support of trainers and connections. It’s their support that has allowed Vincent to show just how good he is.”
