GOLDEN EXPRESS COULD BE SET TO SHINE IN HONG KONG

By Darren Winningham | Monday, November 21, 2022

There could be gold in those hooves.

The horse who raced as Gulf Of Venice in Australia before being sold to Hong Kong where he now races under the name of Golden Express, caught the eye on debut at Sha Tin on November 20 in spite of finishing as a beaten, short-priced favourite in his first start in his new surroundings in a Class 3 contest over 1200m.

Golden Express, who was ridden by Zac Purton, settled on the fence, racing in midfield on the rail after drawing barrier 1.

Purton looked for runs everywhere in the straight and was hampered throughout before storming home behind the eventual winner Victor The Winner, who ridden by James McDonald.

After having had three trials, the last of which he won, leading into his first taste of competitive Hong Kong action, that run should have topped Golden Express off nicely for whatever task trainer John Size sets for him next, possibly even a race on the Longines International Raceday on December 11.

Certainly, Golden Express has not lacked anything in the quality of the trainers he has worked with ... from Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou, his original stable base for which he had three trials, winning two of them, but not racing ... to David Vandyke, for which he had a further two trials, winning both, before exploding into race action fir the first time with a dominant 5.50 length win at Doomben.

The combination of the influence of seasoned trainers Ryan and Vandyke’s undoubted expertise in the early preparation phase of the son of Not A Single Doubt,.and his moving on to one of the all-time great trainers in John Size would be as strong a form-line as any to suggest and that Golden Express’s first win Hong Kong will not be very far away.

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