Spectacular Sixty, Shinn star on Hong Kong’s biggest stage
It was touted as his biggest test yet, but Queensland-bred Golden Sixty (6 g Medaglia d’Oro – Gaudeamus by Distorted Humor) turned the Hong Kong Mile (Gr 1, 1600m) into another procession as he took his record to 19 wins from 20 starts – the equal of the great American mare Zenyatta (Street Cry) – becoming Australia’s second-highest earning thoroughbred of all time in the process.
Facing some of Japan’s best milers, as well as classy European rivals like 1,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m) heroine Mother Earth (Zoffany), the Francis Lui-trained Golden Sixty remained the headline act and the leading hope for a Hong Kong victory.
While the dramatic Hong Kong Sprint (Gr 1, 1200m) win of Sky Field (Deep Field) ensured that the home team would not record a blank sheet, Golden Sixty’s performance suggested that the death knell that has sounded for Hong Kong’s elite level milers over the past year was perhaps premature – even if it is a weak division worldwide.
Golden Sixty raced clear by a length and three-quarters over Danny Shum’s More Than This (Dutch Art) with Japanese raider Salios (Heart’s Cry) holding on for third, two lengths behind the winner, after leading under Damian Lane. Not only was it a quinella for local trainers but it was also a one-two for homegrown riders, with Vincent Ho holding off Derek Leung, who himself tasted Hong Kong Mile glory with Beauty Generation (Road To Rock) in 2017.
It was a fifth Group 1 win for the Element Hill-bred gelding, who was initially sold for $120,000 to Riversley Park at the 2017 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale before he was bought by Lui for $300,000 at that year’s NZB Ready To Run Sale. He has now earned HK$95,453,100 (approx. AUD$17.07 million) and is on course to set a new earnings record for Hong Kong racing by season’s end, surpassing Beauty Generation’s HK$106,233,750 (approx. AUD$18.99 million).
Beauty Generation, though, was New Zealand-bred, meaning that Golden Sixty’s win yesterday took him to second on all-time earnings for Australian-bred horses. Only legendary mare Winx (Street Cry) stands before him – and almost AUD$10 million clear with $26,451,174 her official earnings – with Golden Sixty now above sprinters Everest (1200m)-winning Nature Strip (Nicconi) and Redzel (Snitzel).
And there is every chance that he will be able to build his buffer on Nature Strip before the sprinter returns to defend his Black Caviar Lightning (Gr 1, 1000m) title on February 19, with Golden Sixty likely to search for back-to-back wins in the Stewards’ Cup (Gr 1, 1600m) on January 23.
Victory next month would take his prize-money haul towards AUD$18.29 million.
Ho, who has been aboard Golden Sixty in every one of his 20 starts, said the addition of limited raceday crowds at Sha Tin made the experience that much more sweet after the rider took last year’s Hong Kong Mile in front of an empty grandstand.
“He is amazing, I’m so grateful to be on him,” Ho told the Hong Kong Jockey Club. “I have no words for that – it’s amazing.
“Last year it wasn’t like this, I got to enjoy it with the crowd today and it’s such a great atmosphere. I knew he was at his best, gate two was a little bit tricky, I didn’t want to be stuck on the inside but eventually the race panned out well and the pace was genuine.”
Gaudeamus had a Capitalist (Written Tycoon) filly sell for $425,000 to Hong Kong connections at this year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, but she will not be represented on the sales circuit this year.
She was served by Coolmore Stud shuttler Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) in October.
Sky’s the limit for Shinn after Sprint
A dramatic Hong Kong Sprint mixed jubilation and despair in leaden heaps as the Caspar Fownes-trained Sky Field (5 g Deep Field – Laravissante by O’Reilly) took the feature under a heady Blake Shinn ride. However, the race was marred by a horrific four-horse fall which saw two horses euthanised and three jockeys taken to hospital.
The sickening crash of Amazing Star (Darci Brahma), ridden by Lyle Hewitson, at the 500 metres caused the trailing favourite Lucky Patch (El Roca) and Zac Purton to tumble to the turf. In turn, Naboo Attack (Warhead) stumbled and dismounted Karis Teetan, while Japanese raider Pixie Knight (Maurice) and his partner Yuichi Fukunaga had nowhere to go and he scrambled over the top.
The incident also saw last year’s winner Danon Smash (Lord Kanaloa) badly hampered and he was all but pulled up to finish 70 lengths from the winner.
Group 2 winner Amazing Star, whose breakdown sparked the chain reaction, was immediately euthanised, while Hong Kong’s biggest horse, the 1400-pound Naboo Attack, was also put down after breaking his right front leg.
Trainer David Hayes, who prepared Naboo Attack, said last night: “Today is one of my saddest days in racing. My favourite horse, my biggest horse and my best horse, has sadly passed away. (He was) a gentle giant who was about to show the world his greatness.”
While Teetan walked away and rode out the remainder of the meeting, including an all-the-way win on emerging prospect Lucky With You (Artie Schiller), Hewitson, Purton and Fukunaga were taken to the nearby Prince Of Wales Hospital.
All three were in a stable condition last night. Purton was reported to have suffered three broken ribs and a broken nose, Hewitson a hip fracture and Fukunaga a clavicle fracture.
Out of respect to horses and riders, the trophy presentation for the Sprint and the following two races, the Hong Kong Mile and the Hong Kong Cup (Gr 1, 2000m), was scaled back and no national anthems were played. This harked back to a fall in the same race in 2013, where the Hong Kong Jockey Club received criticism for playing Japan’s melancholic national anthem to celebrate Lord Kanaloa’s (King Kamehameha) second straight victory while English mare Jwala (Oasis Dream) lay stricken on the Sha Tin track, mere metres away.
It was a bitter postscript to what should have been a momentous achievement for Shinn. The 34-year-old has toughed it out in the Hong Kong weighing room where many others have left desolate, enduring lean patches and a lack of support during his two and a half years at Sha Tin.
His first Hong Kong International Races success at what was his maiden big-race ride at the meeting is a milestone that could elevate him into the upper echelons of the jurisdiction’s premiership. A Hong Kong-based jockey typically receives an influx of support from owners and trainers after they have proven themselves at the city’s biggest meeting – even if they have won some of the biggest races abroad.
However, even the rider had difficulty navigating the post-race marsh with excitement tinged by sadness, shock and concern.
“I have mixed emotions about winning this race today. Obviously, the first emotion is that my feelings are with the fallen jockeys and horses out there,” Shinn told the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Leo Schlink.
“It’s gut-wrenching for any rider to see a horse go down. What’s happened today, it’s a real bittersweet win and in a way it’s a hard win to take in the circumstances.”
Still, the three-quarter length victory over Japanese mare Resistencia (Daiwa Major), with the same margin back to Courier Wonder (Sacred Falls), proved the culmination of a consistent two-year career under Caspar Fownes for Sky Field.
Earlier this year, he finished third in the Chairman’s Sprint Prize (Gr 1, 1200m) at his first attempt at the highest level before adding the Premier’s Cup (Gr 3, 1400m) to score a first stakes win.
He entered with two good runs from three appearances this campaign, including a second in the National Day Cup (Gr 3, 1000m) and a third in the Jockey Club Sprint (Gr 2, 1200m), but he was still sent out as the seventh favourite in the field of 12.
“All credit to Caspar, he’s given me the opportunity to ride this lovely animal over the previous season and this season,” Shinn said.
“We’ve always had faith in him but on the big stage things haven’t always gone this way. Today, he performed to his best today and still beat a handy horse in chasing down a top-line horse in Courier Wonder and the Japanese horse (Resistencia).
“He’s a great horse and hopefully he can keep going forward.”
Sky Field’s win continued an extraordinary weekend for Trelawney Stud, with the gelding a second Group 1-winning graduate for Mark and Cherry Taylor’s operation in as many days after Two Illicit (Jimmy Choux) won the Captain Cook Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) in their colours at Te Rapa on Saturday.
They also tasted success as owners with Cheaperthandivorce (Savabeel) in the Waikato Cup (Gr 3, 2400m), while another to be born and raised on the farm was Cal Isuzu Stakes (Gr 2, 1600m) heroine Concert Hall (Savabeel).
Offered at the 2018 Karaka Premier Yearling Sale, Sky Field was purchased for $175,000 by the Kwan family. He hails from a family that has already tasted success on Hong Kong’s biggest raceday, with dam Laravissante (O’Reilly) a half-sister to 2006 Hong Kong Mile winner The Duke (Danehill).
Laravissante, a Doomben winner from seven starts, was not served this year. She has an unraced three-year-old filly, Jolie Christine (Pride Of Dubai), in training with Grahame Begg, while her yearling filly by Pariah (Redoute’s Choice) has been named Meganisi.
Two of Fownes’ three Hong Kong International Races wins have now come from this family, having prepared both The Duke and Sky Field. His third came in this race a decade ago when the ever-popular Lucky Nine (Dubawi) prevailed.
“It was nice to get that result with that particular horse, especially for Blake,” Fownes said. “He’s been riding really well and again today another good performance, so well deserved.
“I’ve said it for a while that he’s pretty special and I think he’s got his best racing ahead of him. We’ve got something really nice to work with and it’s nice to see him do that today.”
In winning the race, Sky Field becomes the second Group 1 winner for the Newgate Farm-based sire Deep Field (Northern Meteor), joining Portland Sky. The stallion stood at the New South Wales-based nursery in 2021 for a fee of $88,000 (inc GST).
The two longer features, the Hong Kong Cup (Gr 1, 2000m) and the Hong Kong Vase (Gr 1, 2400m), went the way of the Japanese, continuing their recent domination of the end-of-year meeting.
Superstar mare Loves Only You (5 m Deep Impact – Loves Only Me by Storm Cat) ended her career on a high by snatching victory from the jaws of defeat in the HK$30 million (approx. AUD$5.36 million) Hong Kong Cup. In doing so, Yoshito Yahagi’s charge landed Hong Kong’s biggest double, adding the Hong Kong Cup to her win in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup (Gr 1, 2000m) at the same course and distance earlier in the year.
Loves Only You retires as a four-time Group 1 winner, having also taken the Yushun Himba (Gr 1, 2400m) – the Japanese Oaks – at three as well as the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (Gr 1, 11f) at Del Mar last month.
For a split second, it appeared that Russian Emperor (Galileo), the son of top Australian mare Atlantic Jewel (Fastnet Rock), had stolen the Cup for the locals as the Douglas Whyte trainee raced clear under Shinn. However, Yuga Kawada coerced every ounce of effort out of his mount to take the prize by a short head over compatriot Hishi Iguazu (Heart’s Cry), with Russian Emperor a length away in third.
Dubai Honour (Pride Of Dubai) endured a luckless run under Tom Marquand, rushing home to finish fourth with a potential case to argue that he could have beaten the winner.
“I’m really proud of her,” Kawada said through an interpreter. “She jumped well but the pace was a bit slow. She relaxed well and then I was able to get into a good position.
“She’s given me two big presents (at the Breeders’ Cup and at the Hong Kong International Races). She’s the best filly or mare I’ve ever ridden. I hope she will be a good mother.”
Glory Vase (6 h Deep Impact – Mejiro Tsubone by Swept Overboard) became just the second horse to win the Hong Kong Vase twice but in non-consecutive years, joining Swettenham Stud shuttler Highland Reel (Galileo).
In a seemingly hopeless position back and on the rail under Joao Moreira, the Tomohito Ozeki-trained Glory Vase looked in all sorts of trouble approaching the 600 metres as Coronation Cup (Gr 1, 1m 4f) winner Pyledriver (Harbour Watch) loomed large on the outside.
Martin Dwyer, already a winner of the Vase on Phoenix Reach in 2004, rode an inch-perfect race on Pyledriver, taking advantage of his stamina to have his rivals off the bit and chasing a long way from home.
Only one challenger proved up to the task, with Glory Vase chasing resolutely before eventually wearing Pyledriver down to score by a neck.
Ebaiyra (Distorted Humor) finished third, bringing down the curtain on the international career of trailblazing Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Alain de Royer-Dupre, who retires at the end of the month.
“This win and everything in my life is to the honour of Jesus Christ, who has been in my life always and today has been a very good example,” the devout Moreira told the Hong Kong Jockey Club. “I felt Him with me and everything went as I expected.
“I had a smooth run, going to the fence and saving ground. I just made sure I got into the clear and I know he’s a very strong horse at the finish and there was not a fight. He has proven to be the best horse today.”
With 28 sons of Deep Impact (Sunday Silence) already expected to stand at stud in Japan in 2022, including new addition and potential heir apparent Contrail, it is widely expected that Glory Vase will be subject to stud offers from abroad hoping to tap into one of the world’s most potent bloodlines.