Gearing up for his toughest test to date and the chance to create history, Hong Kong’s Horse of the Year Golden Sixty (Medaglia d’Oro) will step away from barrier two in Sunday’s (12 December) HK$26 million Gr.1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile (1600m), much to the satisfaction of trainer Francis Lui at this morning’s (Thursday, 9 December) barrier draw at Sha Tin.
“He is all ready and we’re hoping that luck will come to my team and my owner – and to me too,” Lui said. “Barrier two is ok – we’ll just relax him and wait for the straight, and then we can just let him go.”
This weekend, the six-year-old son of Medaglia d’Oro will bid to extend his winning thread to 16 and his overall tally to 19 wins – a new local record in Hong Kong.
“We are very happy with him, he came out of that first run very well – in that race over the first 800 (metres) the pace was very slow, that gave the other horses a little trouble but Golden Sixty, he just has a very good turn of foot now – he knows where the finish is.
“Honestly, the trials he’s had didn’t show much. I think he hadn’t run for a few months’ time and when it came time to run that first time he showed he is more mature, more relaxed and more comfortable,” Lui said.
Golden Sixty shares the current mantle of 18 wins in town with Silent Witness and Beauty Generation. And Lui describes the quirky but incredibly talented gelding as the horse of a lifetime.
“In all of a lifetime I think you can’t find this kind of horse. I’m lucky and Hong Kong is lucky to have him too,” he said.
Golden Sixty will have his final gallop tomorrow (Friday, 10 December) at Sha Tin with Vincent Ho aboard in the early hours of the morning.
