Golden Sixty (Medaglia d’Oro) impressed trainer Francis Lui with a strong hit out on the turf on Tuesday morning ahead of his title defense in Sunday’s HK$26 million Gr.1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile (1600m).
If successful, the son of Medaglia d’Oro will extend his winning sequence of 16 by capturing his 19th career win in Hong Kong – a local record that would surpass the 18-win record currently shared with Silent Witness and fellow New Zealand-sourced galloper Beauty Generation.
“He’s good – Vincent (Ho, jockey) was happy with him – he’s ready,” Lui said after watching his charge work on Tuesday.
“I just asked Vincent to roll him into it, let him work into it and he did it with a partner horse. He will gallop again on Friday and it’ll just be similar again.”
Standing in Golden Sixty’s way this weekend is the might of Japan – a quartet from the Land of the Rising Sun spearheaded by Danon Kingly – this year’s G1 Yasuda Kinen (1600m) winner.
Joining him is Salios – a two-time runner-up to the exceptional Contrail (Japan’s eighth Triple Crown winner), Indy Champ – a two-time G1 winner as well as Vin de Garde who placed at the top-level behind Lord North in Dubai earlier this year.
Golden Sixty was purchased out of Riversley Park’s 2017 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run draft for $300,000 and his incredible career has encompassed earnings of HK$80.633 million, 18 wins from 19 starts, four Group One wins, 2020 Hong Kong Derby (2000m) glory, a trio of Group Two triumphs and two Group Three wins.
