Sha Tin hosted the 2023 Longines Hong Kong International Races on Sunday and the four Group 1 races provided a real treat for all horse racing enthusiasts. I will compare the speed figures achieved with the traditional Group 1 par of (117), and will list them after the horse in question. The star performer on the clock was the Francis Lui Kin-wai trained Golden Sixty (116) who produced a remarkable turn of foot in the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile to come home 1 1/2 lengths ahead of Voyage Bubble. A wide draw in stall (14) proved no hindrance for the eight-year-old who was recording his third win in the race from the last four years. The ground was advertised as Good on the day, and the winning times were very close to standard. The winning times were indicating that the track was riding just 4.5 lengths per mile slow, while giving a going allowance of (+0.11) seconds per furlong. As always, the excellent Hong Kong Jockey Club website has provided the sectional times for the entire card. One would assume that a multiple Group 1 winner like Golden Sixty would be past his best at eight years of age. However, the sectional times reveal a different story. We can compare the son of Medaglia d’Oro’s latest effort with his two previous Hong Kong Mile victories at Sha Tin. The following table shows how he is even better now than in the past. I have applied my own going allowance to the times to take into account the speed of the surface on each occasion. The following headings in the table have been abbreviated:

 

SF (Speed Figure); GA (Going Allowance in seconds per furlong); SECT TO 1200m (Sectional Time to 1200 metre mark); 1200m TO FIN (Sectional Time from 1200 metres to 1400 metres finish); WGA (With Going Allowance Incorporated).

 

YEAR	WINNER	TIME	DRAW	SF	GA	SECT TO 1200m	1200m TO FIN	WGA	WGA
2023	Golden Sixty	1.34.10	[14/14]	[116]	[+0.11]	[1.11.89]	[22.21]	[1.11.23]	[21.99]
2021	Golden Sixty	1.33.86	[2/11]	[114]	[+0.03]	[1.11.43]	[22.43]	[1.11.25]	[22.37]
2020	Golden Sixty	1.33.45	[7/10]	[115]	[+0.01]	[1.11.40]	[22.05]	[1.11.34]	[22.03]

 

The traditional method of evaluating a performance in the past by the fastest winning time may lead us to think that this horse has regressed in that he has recorded his slowest winning time of his three wins. However, we can see from the sectional timing data, and by calculating a going allowance based on all the winning times on the relevant days, that Golden Sixty is just as good, if not better, than before. From his worst draw so far in stall 14, and his first race in 224 days, he has performed even better than his previous best. The turn of foot shown to put the race to bed inside the final 400 metres of 22.21secs was easily the best on the day, even faster than Group 1 winning sprinter Lucky Sweynesse. He is currently the world record holder in prize money, and has now won 26 of his 30 races. A fine advertisement for keeping horses in training.

 

Romantic Warrior (113) was next best on the day when just hanging on to take the Group 1 Longines Hong Kong Cup over 2000 metres from the Aidan O’Brien trained Luxembourg by a short head. There was no doubt the son of Acclamation was not at his best following a successful effort to win the Group 1 Cox Plate at Moonee Valley just 43 days previously. A sectional timing comparison with his win in last year’s race in the table below shows just what his recent trip Down Under took out of him. The five-year-old was slower to the 1600 metre mark and also recorded a slower closing sectional than his win in last year’s race.

 

YEAR	WINNER	TIME	SF	GA	SECT TO   1600M	1600M TO FIN	WGA	WGA
2023	Romantic   Warrior	2.02.00	[113]	[+0.11]	[1.38.56]	[23.44]	[1.37.68]	[23.22]
2022	Romantic   Warrior	1.59.70	[120]	[+0.02]	[1.36.49]	[23.21]	[1.36.33]	[23.17]

 

 

Lucky Sweynesse (112) recorded his fourth Group 1 victory in the Longines Hong Kong Sprint coming home 3/4 length ahead of Lucky With You having been denied a clear run in the home straight. I always felt that claims to be the best sprinter in the world were a bit premature for this horse prior to this year’s Royal Ascot. Events since that meeting have certainly poured some cold water on those claims. This victory shines a brighter light on the son of Sweynesse, and it may very well be that this is a less than vintage year for sprinters on the world stage.

 

Junko (107) took what turned out to be a slowly run Group 1 Longines Hong Kong Vase over 2400 metres by a length from the Japanese trained Zeffiro. The Andre Fabre trained four-year-old showed much the best turn of foot in the race, and was recording his second Group 1 success following his most recent victory on Soft ground over 12 furlongs at Munich. A trip to the Sheema Classic could be next on the cards for the improving gelding.

 

Until the next instalment,

Stay Lucky,

Graham