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History was made and reputations enhanced in a glittering display of racing at Sha Tin when Hong Kong’s finest fought it out for glory in three Group 1 races worth a total of HK$65 million at FWD Champions Day on Sunday (24 April).
Romantic Warrior surged into history with another remarkable performance and capped an unlikely ascent from obscurity to stardom for Danny Shum and Karis Teetan with a stunning HK$25 million G1 FWD QEII Cup (2000m) victory.
Golden Sixty now stands alone as the highest prize money earner in Hong Kong racing history after the faultless defence of his HK$20 million G1 FWD Champions Mile (1600m).
In the opening Group 1, Wellington joined one of the most select clubs in Hong Kong racing’s fabled speed division when running out a dominant winner of the HK$20 million Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m) under Alexis Badel.
Already with a bank of HK113,400,600 – bolstered by HK$11.4 million for Sunday’s win – Golden Sixty holds a nomination for the 5 June G1 Yasuda Kinen (1600m) at Tokyo which carries prizemoney of USD$3.38 million and a winner’s cheque of USD$1.56 million.
Surpassing the mantle of HK$106,233,750 previously held by Beauty Generation, the victory was another triumph for jockey Vincent Ho and trainer Francis Lui.
Ho described Golden Sixty eloquently post-race: “He’s one in a lifetime.”
Lui said the trip to Japan would depend on the Golden Sixty’s recovery from the race and if there were no issues, along with quarantine, the horse would attempt to join Fairy King Prawn (2000) and Bullish Luck (2006) as the only two Hong Kong-trained horses to have won the Yasuda Kinen.
Ho, 31, relished his third consecutive FWD Champions Mile triumph after previously succeeding aboard Southern Legend (2020) and Golden Sixty (2021).
Romantic Warrior joined Werther (2016), Designs On Rome (2014), Ambitious Dragon (2011) and Vengeance Of Rain (2005) in completing the Hong Kong Derby-QEII Cup double.
Selected by former Irish champion…
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