Sha Tin is synonymous with GOLDEN SIXTY’s elite achievements and, fittingly, Hong Kong’s equine hero was celebrated at the scene of his greatest triumphs with a memorable farewell ceremony last Sunday (22 September).
Despite challenging weather conditions, more than 22,000 racecourse attendees gathered to acknowledge the accomplishments of Hong Kong’s record-breaking champion, who is bound for retirement in Japan.
The atmosphere at Sha Tin’s Parade Ring reinforced GOLDEN SIXTY’s popularity and significance to the city as a symbol of enduring excellence, resilience and world-class quality. The presence of several Hong Kong champion trainers in the Parade Ring, including Tony Cruz and Caspar Fownes, underlined the deep respect in which GOLDEN SIXTY is held.
It was a privilege to participate in the farewell ceremony to show appreciation for GOLDEN SIXTY, owner Mr Stanley Chan, trainer Francis Lui and jockey Vincent Ho and I must say GOLDEN SIXTY, even as a retired nine-year-old, looked amazing and I wish him all the best in retirement.
Heavy rain impacted the meeting, but we still witnessed some very good performances. While the first Group race of the season – the G3 Celebration Cup Handicap (1400m) – was won by THE GOLDEN SCENERY for Tony Cruz and Brenton Avdulla, John Size’s emerging sprinter WUNDERBAR was very impressive.
Sidelined for eight months after knee surgery, WUNDERBAR led all the way under 134lb for Zac Purton in the yielding conditions to post his fifth win from six starts. He is now rated 88 and is certainly a very exciting four-year-old.
Two other winners on Sunday – TURIN STARSPANGLED for Pierre Ng and MASTER MASTERMIND for David Hayes – emerged as potential contenders for the HK$52 million Four-Year-Old Classic Series, which culminates in the HK$26 million Hong Kong Derby (2000m) on 23 March.
I would also like to congratulate Britney Wong on riding her first Hong Kong winner with CHEVAL VALIANT’s success for Douglas Whyte. Britney showed great composure in controlling the speed and earning a deserved victory.
At Happy Valley on Wednesday night, the DBS x Manulife Million Challenge gets underway and I hope this season’s series delivers the same level of excitement as last season when COPARTNER AMBITION and TOMODACHI KOKOROE tied with 51 points and were declared joint winners.
Underlining the thrilling nature of last season’s series, CHILL CHIBI finished third with 49 points.
The 2024/25 series carries prizemoney of HK$1.5 million – with HK$1 million to the winner, HK$350,000 to second and HK$150,000 to the connections of the third horse – and is decided on races of Class 3 and above from tonight until 26 February.
Points are allocated on each eligible race with the winner collecting 15 points, second earning six points, third four points and fourth three points.
The first race of this season’s DBS x Manulife Million Challenge is the Class 3 Central Handicap, which is carded as Race 5 at 9.10pm and is run over 1650m for prizemoney of HK$2,050,000.
The pace in the race will be good with SAMARKAND (Zac Purton) and GREENWICH (Matthew Poon) likely to go forward from their wide draws. SOLAR PARTNER (Vincent Ho) and EIGHTEEN PALMS (Harry Bentley) should also settle in the leading group and RED MAJESTY (Keith Yeung) also likes to race on the speed and will be prominent.
SAMARKAND has the benefit of having had a run this season and raced close to the speed and fought on well to finish second to HELENE WARRIOR over this course and distance on 11 September. Zac rides SAMARKAND for the first time and, despite drawing a little awkwardly in gate nine, he is a win and place chance being trained by the in-form David Hayes and the choice of Zac.
NOBLE PURSUIT won three races last season, including two at Happy Valley over 1650m and 1800m. NOBLE PURSUIT trialed well over 1600m last week and Hugh Bowman should give him a perfect run from gate two. He is a place chance.
IVY LEAGUE was doing his best work at the finish of the race when fifth to HELENE WARRIOR when resuming two weeks ago. IVY LEAGUE won two races over this course and distance last season. Jerry Chau rides IVY LEAGUE for the first time and he is also a place chance along with CHAIN OF GOLD, who is ridden by Karis Teetan.
I CAN raced keenly in the early stages when he was taken back from a wide gate to settle on the fence in the second last pair in running. I CAN finished hard in the last 200m when he got clear ground in the straight to finish third to HELENE WARRIOR. That was an excellent effort and although I CAN has drawn wide again, he is a place chance for Andrea Atzeni.
There are a number of other chances in the race with CALIFORNIA VOCE resuming here after winning at his last start last season. RED MAJESTY has an excellent record at the track and distance and ran well when resuming for second to MATSU VICTOR two weeks ago.
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