Golden Sixty and Hot King Prawn land Group 2s while New Zealand-bred Furore takes out the third feature
Australian-breds Golden Sixty (Medaglia d’Oro) and Hot King Prawn (Denman) won the first two of the three Group 2 features at Sha Tin on Sunday before New Zealand-bred gelding Furore (Pierro) landed the third.
The first of the Group races, the Jockey Club Mile (Gr 2, 1600m), was taken out by Golden Sixty who signaled he was on form for next month’s Hong Kong Mile (Gr 1, 1600m) with a one and a half length victory over Ka Ying Star (Cityscape). Southern Legend (Not A Single Doubt) finished third.
Golden Sixty was recording his 13th win from 14 starts and became just the fourth horse in Hong Kong to win ten consecutive races, emulating Silent Witness (El Moxie), Beauty Generation (Road To Rock) and Co-Tack (Top Role).
“I felt nervous before the race but, of course, passed the winning post everything was all right. I feel very happy that the horse can perform so well,” said winning trainer Francis Lui.
“You can see he’s more relaxed and more mature now. At the moment he looks like a champion but we’ll see what form the international horses bring.”
Golden Sixty was bought for $120,000 by Riversley Park and Enigma Farm from the draft of Element Hill at the 2017 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale before being re-offered at the NZB Ready To Run Sale and sold for NZ$300,000. His Capitalist (Written Tycoon) half sister is catalogued as Lot 336 from the draft of Element Hill at next year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
The son of former Darley shuttler Medaglia d'Oro (El Prado) is one of five winners and the only stakes winner out of the Irish Group 2 winner Gaudeamus (Distorted Humor) and has now won over HK$38 million.
Two races later the John Size-trained Hot King Prawn signaled he was ready for next month’s Hong Kong Sprint (Gr 1, 1200m) with victory in the Jockey Club Sprint (Gr 2, 1200m) where he beat Computer Patch (Exceed And Excel) by three quarters of a length.
“He’s won with authority – not to disrespect the other horses in the race because some of those might improve as well but I just couldn’t be any happier with him,” winning jockey Joao Moreira said.
“He’s going to December as an improving horse; he’s a class horse, a quality horse, and we can go there with plenty of confidence – there’s no doubt that that’s the race we want to win.”
Hot King Prawn finished second in last year’s Hong Kong Sprint, beaten by his former stablemate Beat The Clock (Hinchinbrook), who retired earlier this year.
“I thought the run was okay, he’s covered a little bit of ground and finished the race off quite nicely, I wouldn’t expect any more. I think probably he’s still improving and he’ll be a bit better on international day,” Size said.
“He’s six-years-old this season but sometimes our good horses can be that age and still do their best. Hong Kong is a place where mature horses can have an advantage sometimes. He had one start before the Hong Kong Sprint last season because he was coming back off a colic operation, so he was a little bit disadvantaged, so this time he’s probably had a more comfortable preparation.”
Hot King Prawn was bought by Aquanita Racing for $90,000 at the 2016 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale from the draft of Torryburn Stud. He is out of the dual winner De Chorus (Unbridled’s Song) making him a half-brother to dual Group 3 winner Siren’s Fury (Myboycharlie). His second dam is Listed winner Val De Grace (Centaine) and Sunday’s victory took his record to 11 wins and seven placings from 21 starts with his career earnings just over HK$27 million.
The third of Sunday’s Group 2 races, the Jockey Club Cup (Gr 2, 2000m), was won by the Tony Cruz-trained Furore. The son of Coolmore Australia’s Pierro (Lonhro) beat five-time Group 1 winning stablemate Exultant (Teofilo) by three quarters of a length.
Furore ended a 19 month winless streak last start in the Sa Sa Ladies Purse Handicap (Gr 3, 1800m) when he again had Exultant in second and Cruz said the pair will be separated for their next runs.
“I’m glad they’re not in the same race - Exultant will be in the Vase and Furore will be in the Cup,” Cruz confirmed. ‘We’ll go straight into the International Races with them - we are ready.”
Moreira has now won twice on Furore and said: “He ran away to win very impressively and easy - I can say that he crossed the finish line with plenty left in himself, it gets me so excited for the big day in December.”
Furore was a $210,000 New Zealand Bloodstock Premier Yearling Sale purchase by Australian Bloodstock and Lees Racing from the draft of Haunui Farm at the 2016 sale.
He is a half-brother to Hong Kong Group 3 winner Blizzard (Starcraft) being out of the unplaced Redoute’s Choice (Danehill) mare Stormy Choice who is herself a half-sister to Brisbane Cup (Gr 1, 2200m) winner Danestorm (Danehill).
