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Golden Sixty Stars in Seventh Group One

A pair of super-talented younger challengers are doing everything they can to force a changing of the guard in Hong Kong racing, but the enduring greatness of Golden Sixty (Medaglia d'Oro) continues to reign supreme.

Bought for $300,000 from the 2017 Ready to Run Sale, the champion racehorse won his second HK$12m Group One Stewards' Cup (1600m) at Sha Tin on Sunday. It was the seventh Group One victory for Golden Sixty, whose 27-start, 23-win career has earned him more than HK$129.6m in prizemoney – almost 85 times his purchase price.

Romantic Warrior (Acclamation) and California Spangle (Starspangledbanner) gave their all to try to bring the two-time Hong Kong Horse of the Year down on Sunday, sitting in first and second place for most of the race and throwing down the gauntlet with strong kicks as they moved into the business end of the race.

But Golden Sixty and jockey Vincent Ho came home over the top of that pair and overpowered them down the straight, sailing past and clearing out to win by a length. Romantic Warrior took the runner-up spot by a length and a quarter over California Spangle, with almost four lengths back to the remainder of the field.

"I'm very happy for Golden Sixty, who I think still has the best turn of foot out of the three," Ho said. "The team have done a great job, and for him to come back to his optimum fitness is great.

"I still believe that he is one of the best horses at a mile. You have to respect our opponents, but I have to trust my horse.

"He was very comfortable. He jumped very well, dropped the bit and made it easy for me to handle him and decide what position I wanted to get. If I wanted him to be faster, he would be, and if I drop my reins, he will relax.

"So even when Zac (Purton) picked up the pace from the half-mile, he still followed through very nicely without any effort."

The Riversley Park graduate is trained by Francis Lui, who is keen to test his stable star's talents on an international stage.

"I would like to go overseas, but we will see how he pulls up," he said. "I had a little bit of confidence before the race today.

"We will see how he pulls up and discuss it with the team, but we have the option of the Dubai Turf (1800m) and the Yasuda Kinen (1600m) in Japan."