Golden Sixty created history at the Jockey Club’s Champion Awards on Friday night, becoming the first galloper in Hong Kong racing history to ring up a hat-trick of Horse of the Year titles.
Golden Sixty was rewarded for another superb season that saw him land elite-level victories in the Stewards’ Cup (1,600m), Gold Cup (2,000m) and Champions Mile to set a new Hong Kong record of nine career Group One wins.
Golden Sixty, who also bagged the Group Two Jockey Club Mile, finished the campaign with four wins from five starts and took home the Champion Miler crown as well.
The seven-year-old’s Champions Mile success saw him become the highest-earning racehorse in history with HK$147,930,600 in prize money to his name.
While this season’s champion jockey Zac Purton made a compelling case for Lucky Sweynesse to receive this season’s top gong – he “clearly should be Horse of the Year” – Manfred Man Ka-leung’s brilliant speedster had to settle for the Champion Sprinter and Champion Four-Year-Old awards.
Lucky Sweynesse compiled an enormous season, complementing Group One victories in the Centenary Sprint Cup (1,200m), Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1,400m) and Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1,200m) with two Group Two and two Group Three victories, as well as a Class One success.
In landing his Group One hat-trick, Lucky Sweynesse became the first horse since the great Silent Witness to sweep the Hong Kong Speed Series.
During a 10-race campaign that began on opening day in September and ran until early June, Lucky Sweynesse amassed eight victories to equal Beauty Generation’s mark for the most wins in a Hong Kong season.
Despite the heroics of Golden Sixty and Lucky Sweynesse, it was Romantic Warrior who produced the most lucrative campaign for connections.
Top-level wins in the city’s richest race, the HK$34 million Hong Kong Cup (2,000m), and the HK$25 million QE II Cup (2,000m), saw Romantic Warrior pocket HK$44,400,000 in stakes – a whisker more than Lucky Sweynesse’s HK$44,281,050.
Romantic Warrior’s efforts also saw him crowned Champion Middle-Distance Horse for the second straight season.
The galloper who lowered Romantic Warrior’s colours in the Group One Champions & Chater Cup (2,400m), Russian Emperor, was handed back-to-back Champion Stayer gongs.
On top of his second consecutive Champions & Chater victory, Russian Emperor headed abroad to plunder Middle Eastern riches with victory in the Qatar Group One H.H. The Amir Trophy (2,400m) in February.
John Size’s Howdeepisyourlove edged Frankie Lor Fu-chuen’s Dream Winner for the Champion Griffin title, with the former’s four wins from 12 starts favoured over the latter’s three blistering victories from as many runs.
While Howdeepisyourlove progressed 44 points in the ratings and sits on a mark of 96, Dream Winner climbed 33 points to a rating of 85.
The Champion Griffin category is open to new imports in the current season who arrived in Hong Kong unraced, and who were aged either two or three on the date of the first Hong Kong race meeting of the season.
The galloper who made the most significant ratings surge was Beauty Eternal, the exciting four-year-old who won seven of his 10 starts to improve his mark from 52 to 117 and earn Most Improved Horse honours.
While Beauty Eternal was unable to deliver as favourite in the Hong Kong Derby (2,000m), finishing third, the Size-trained galloper struck twice at Group Three level to round out a superb campaign.
The remainder of the awards were elementary, with Purton receiving his Champion Jockey spoils, John Size his Champion Trainer gong and Vincent Ho Chak-yiu the Tony Cruz Award as leading local jockey.
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