Jet Setting Agenda for Golden Sixty

Last season's impressive Gr1 Hong Kong Derby winner Golden Sixty (Medaglia D'Oro-Gaudeamus, by Distorted Humor) has seemingly had his passport stamped for some time with jockey Vincent Ho suggesting that the freakish 6YO gelding has Japan's Gr1 Yasuda Kinen (1600m) on the menu for next June. According to scmp.com, Ho's mission with Golden Sixty this season is one of elite brevity - "win more Group 1s". A victory in the Yasuda Kinen would put Golden Sixty in the same echelon as previously successful Hong Kong raiders Bullish Luck and Fairy King Prawn. Ho enthused, "[The Yasuda Kinen is] close by and Japan handle all the quarantine well, the [Japan Racing Association] did a lot for the equestrian in the Olympics, so hopefully we can do it." He added, "Golden Sixty's owner [Stanley Chan Ka-leung] loves Japan so this is the first option but we're still open to any options, we'll see how it pans it. To win a Group 1 overseas with Golden Sixty is the dream, I'd love to prove to everyone that he is that good and he can go anywhere around the world and still win." More immediate plans for Golden Sixty include the Gr2 Jockey Club Mile on November 21 as a launch pad to a defence of the Gr1 Hong Kong Mile second up in December. With 4 Gr1s last season and 14 straight wins rolling into this November, Golden Sixty certainly has the Hong Kong racing scene buzzing as the seemingly untouchable streak of Silent Witness (17) comes into sharper focus.

Golden Sixty could race in Japan (pic: hkjc.com)