April 30 2023

Sixty best ever in Hong Kong

Third Champions Mile and ninth G1 for son of Medaglia d’Oro adds to Golden reputation

Any doubt Golden Sixty isn’t the best horse to race in Hong Kong over the past 20 years were dispelled on Sunday, 30 April when the brilliant galloper won his third straight Champions Mile to take his incredible G1 record to nine victories.

The seven-year-old son of Medaglia d’Oro out of Gaudeamus (AUS) faced an international field over 1,600m at Sha Tin and emerged with his burgeoning reputation enhanced.

Expertly ridden by Vincent Ho, Golden Sixty came from fifth at halfway to burst through in the home straight, beating Beauty Joy by 1.5 lengths with pacemaker California Spangle another three-quarters of a length away in third place.

The last-start Hong Kong Gold Cup (2,000m) winner hadn’t run for nine weeks but still showed all his class to take his record to an amazing 25 wins and three placings from 29 starts for a staggering prize money total of HK$149.29 million (A$28.78 million).

Silent Witness and Beauty Generation, who both won 18 races in Hong Kong, were regarded as champion gallopers of their time.

But Golden Sixty, who scored his 13th victory over the 1,600m course for trainer Francis Lui, must now be the undisputed king.

Golden Sixty was sold at the 2017 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in Australia by Element Hill Stud to Riversley Park and Enigma Farm for AU$120,000.

He was then offered as a two-year-old at the 2017 NZB Ready To Run Sale and bought by Lui for NZ$300,000.

Medaglia d’Oro won eight races - including three at G1 level - and was placed seven times during his 17-start career.

The Darley stallion has sired 1,127 winners of 3,434 races worldwide, worth A$245.2 million.

Medaglia d’Oro has 26 individual G1 winners among his 171 individual Stakes-race winners of 363 Black-Type races.

Golden Sixty joined Kallos, who won the G3 R.N. Irwin Stakes (1,100m) at Morphettville in Adelaide on 22 April, and Merlazza, a Stakes winner over 1,600m at Oaklawn Park in the US on the same day, as Stakes-winning progeny of Medaglia d’Oro this month. 

Standing for a service fee of US$100,000, Medaglia d’Oro leads the stallion roster at Darley’s Jonabell Farm at Lexington in Kentucky.

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