By Ed Culham
GOLDEN SIXTY became the highest earning racehorse of all time when winning £1.2 million after taking out the FWD Champions Mile at a packed Sha Tin Racecourse on Sunday morning.
Francis Lui’s brilliant seven-year-old, who has won 25 of his 29 career starts, was always well placed by regular partner Vincent Ho and won comfortably from Beauty Joy.
His career earnings, according to current exchange rates, are now £15.1 million, eclipsing Winx who won just over £14.5 million in her stellar career.
It was a day of records at Sha Tin with Golden Sixty eclipsing Beauty Generation’s eight Group 1 wins when collecting his ninth, while Ho claimed a fourth Champions Mile in succession to become the race’s leading rider.
The 32-year-old pilot is coming over to the UK for a couple of weeks this summer to ride at Goodwood’s World Pool meeting and the Shergar Cup and he was understandably thrilled with his pride and joy.
“It’s always my honour to be on him,” said Ho. “I’m happy for the horse and happy for the crowds that come to support him. He’s just an amazing horse.
“He’s going as well as ever. There’s no sign of him dropping in performance.”
Golden Sixty was the middle leg of a Group One treble for Hong Kong, with Lucky Sweynesse running away with the Chairman’s Sprint Prize and Romantic Warrior bouncing back to take the FWD QEII Cup.
Connections of Lucky Sweynesse are now considering a tilt at The Everest at Randwick in Sydney in October.
The final Group One turned into a precession for Romantic Warrior who was winning this race for a second year running.
James McDonald is now three from three on the son of Acclamation.
“How good are the Hong Kong horses? They’re flying today,” said the New Zealand jockey.
“He’s a world-class horse and put in a performance just like he did in December.
“There wasn’t one part of the race where I thought he wasn’t right – he was always going to explode for me – and the race panned out beautifully.
Dubai Honour, representing the William Haggas-Tom Marquand team, ran a fine race to be third after his recent Group One double in Australia.
Total turnover on the day was a huge £157.6 million and the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, couldn’t have been more delighted.
“It was a day that showed Hong Kong racing has fully come back to the world stage with the atmosphere and the performances of these champion horses,” Engelbrecht-Bresges said.
“This is really a global event and one which has improved the reputation of Hong Kong racing, especially after COVID.
“There were a lot of people who were a little bit sceptical over whether Hong Kong can rebound quickly but today has shown Hong Kong has the ‘Can Do’ spirit and the willingness to stretch.
“What we saw today was absolutely world-class racing and there were absolutely outstanding performances of really great champions of the turf.”
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