THE CASE AGAINST GOLDEN SIXTY

By Darren Winningham | Saturday, December 9, 2023

A winner on 25 of his 29 racecourse outings – nine at Group One level – Golden Sixty will aim to add a third Hong Kong Mile to his illustrious CV when he resumes at Sha Tin’s marquee meeting the LONGINES Hong Kong International Races (HKIR) to compete in the LONGINES Hong Kong Mile (Group 1) worth HK$32 million.

The odds and statistics are stacked against him for mine. In fact, I am going to say he cannot win the feature race on Sunday!

My reasons are simple.

He is now an eight-year-old and no eight-year-old has ever won this race. Granted that Able One did win this race as a nine-year-old – but the competition Golden Sixty faces here this weekend is world class.

He comes off a 224-day break. He has not been seen racing since the Group One FWD Champions Mile success on April 30.

He drew barrier 14. There will be no speed in the race. I expect California Spangle to lead and slow them up to a crawl in the race. If this happens Golden Sixty may be forced to race wide and this may prove to be a telling factor against him late in the race.

This is the first time in over three years that Golden Sixty has faced a full field of 14 runners. He does have a habit of getting back and getting into the race late. In these races where he has raced this way, he has been able to navigate through the small numbers in the field. This field size will certainly pose a problem come Sunday.

Happy to be proved wrong for the sake of Golden Sixty and his myriad of supporters here in Hong Kong ... it is always good seeing a champion win.

I just don’t see it happening this time.

So, horses have caught my eye are the locally trained Beauty Eternal trained, from the John Size stable with Zac Purton in the saddle ... and, if you’d like to play even wider, I suggest Namur trained by Japanese trainer T Takano and to be ridden by William Buick.

Namur’s trackwork all week at Sha Tin has been solid and he has looked the part every time he has stepped out, both on the all-weather track or the turf track.

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