July, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Golden Sixty Named Hong Kong’s Horse Of The Year

Golden Sixty's outstanding exploits during the 2020/21 season earned the multiple Group 1 victor the Hong Kong Horse of the Year award at a special presentation function held at Happy Valley Clubhouse tonight, Tuesday, 13 July.

The Francis Lui-trained five-year-old was also named Champion Miler and Champion Middle-Distance Horse. In addition, the son of Medaglia d'Oro also secured the bulk of the public vote to claim the Most Popular Horse title for the second consecutive year.

The 2019/20 season's Champion Four-Year-Old showed further improvement this term, with a perfect record of seven wins from seven starts, with the last four wins all at G1 level. Since September 2019, he has maintained an unbeaten run of 14 and he is the first horse to capture the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile (1600m), G1 Stewards' Cup (1600m), G1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m) and G1 FWD Champions Mile (1600m) in the same season, highlighting his versatility and brilliance.

Golden Sixty is the fourth horse in Hong Kong racing history after Good Ba Ba, Able Friend and Beauty Generation to win the Horse of the Year title in the same season as winning both the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile and G1 FWD Champions Mile. In addition to his four G1 wins, Golden Sixty also took the G2 Jockey Club Mile (1600m), G2 Oriental Watch Sha Tin Trophy (1600m) and the G3 Celebration Cup (1400m).

Hot King Prawn was named the season's Champion Sprinter. The John Size-trained six-year-old opened his G1 winning account in the Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m) in January this year. The Denman gelding was a steady performer throughout the season, finishing out of money only once in his five starts since last October. He also won the G2 Jockey Club Sprint (1200m) last November.

Panfield was crowned Champion Stayer. The Tony Millard-trained Chilean import was already a G1 victor prior to his arrival in Hong Kong. After opening his Hong Kong winning account in a Class 2 event over 2000m, the Lookin At Lucky colt ran a gallant third behind Sky Darci in the BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m). He then achieved a career-peak when defeating older rivals, including Exultant, in the G1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (2400m) in May.

Sky Darci was the deserving winner of the Four-Year-Old Champion award. The Caspar Fownes-trained galloper won five races this season, including the BMW Hong Kong Derby, the final leg of the Four-Year-Old Classic Series and the G3 Lion Rock Trophy (1600m). In his final start of the season, he also finished a creditable second behind stablemate Sky Field in another G3 event, the Premier Cup (1400m).

Fantastic Treasure was named the season's Champion Griffin after remaining unbeaten with five wins from five starts in his rookie season in Hong Kong. The David Hayes-trained three-year-old achieved his career highlight to date in a Class 2 1400m contest at Sha Tin, defeating seasoned gallopers to achieve a rating of 94.

The John Size-trained Courier Wonder was named the season's Most Improved Horse. After starting the campaign on a rating of 52, the Sacred Falls gelding soared 55 points to a mark of 107 after remaining unbeaten with five wins from five starts.

Caspar Fownes was honoured with the Champion Trainer title. The battle for the championship was settled before the season finale and Fownes was most deserving of his fourth title, having led for the majority of the season before repelling a strong charge from 11-time champion, John Size.

Joao Moreira was crowned Champion Jockey for a fourth time. The Brazilian rider had a fantastic season of achievements, including becoming only the third jockey in history to notch 1000 winners in Hong Kong. He also won the public vote to earn the Most Popular Jockey of the Year accolade.

The winner of the Tony Cruz Award for the season's leading homegrown rider will be revealed and presented during racing at Wednesday's season finale (14 July) at Happy Valley.

Former Hong Kong Champions Beauty Generation and Exultant were presented with the Lifetime Achievement Awards for their great contributions to Hong Kong racing.

The winners for the 2020/21 season are listed as follows:

Award	Winner	Owner	Trainer
Horse of the Year	Golden Sixty	Stanley Chan Ka Leung	Francis Lui
Champion Trainer	Caspar Fownes
Champion Jockey	Joao Moreira
Champion Four-Year-Old	Sky Darci	Jessica Kwan Mun Hang	Caspar Fownes
Champion Sprinter	Hot King Prawn	Lau Sak Hong	John Size
Champion Miler	Golden Sixty	Stanley Chan Ka Leung	Francis Lui
Champion Middle-Distance Horse	Golden Sixty	Stanley Chan Ka Leung	Francis Lui
Champion Stayer	Panfield	Yue Yun Hing	Tony Millard
Champion Griffin	Fantastic Treasure	Ken Leung Woon Kin & Leung Kwun	David Hayes
Most Improved Horse	Courier Wonder	Mr & Mrs Chadwick Mok Cham Hung	John Size
Most Popular Horse of the Year	Golden Sixty	Stanley Chan Ka Leung	Francis Lui
Most Popular Jockey of the Year	Joao Moreira
Lifetime Achievement Award	Beauty Generation	Patrick Kwok Ho Chuen	John Moore / David Hayes
Lifetime Achievement Award	Exultant	Eddie Wong Ming Chak & Wong Leung Sau Hing	Tony Cruz
Most Admired Overseas Horse	Almond Eye

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Eclipse Award Winner Bert Firestone, Owner Of Derby-Winning Filly Genuine Risk, Passes At Age 89

The Eclipse Award-winning owner of 1980, Bertram Robert Firestone died July 12 in West Palm Beach, Fla., at the age of 89, reports bloodhorse.com. He is perhaps best known for campaigning Genuine Risk, just the second filly in history to win the Kentucky Derby (1980).

In all, Firestone and his wife Diana Johnson campaigned 17 Grade or Group 1 winners and multiple champions: Honest Pleasure (1975 U.S. Champion 2-Year-Old); April Run (1981 French Champion 3-Year-Old Filly, 1982 U.S. Champion Grass Mare); Blue Wind (1981 English & Irish Champion 3-Year-Old Filly); Play It Safe (1981 French Champion 2-Year-Old Filly); Theatrical (1987 U.S. Champion Grass Horse); and Paradise Creek (1994 U.S. Champion Grass Horse).

The Firestones originally partnered with Hall of Fame trainer LeRoy Jolley, but were also responsible for sending Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott his first big horse, Theatrical.

“I had a private job with them for about five years, and I could not have been treated any better,” Mott told bloodhorse.com. “They were the ones who got me to New York full-time. They gave me a huge opportunity, and they sent Theatrical to me. He did more for my career than any other single horse. He was my first champion and first Breeders' Cup winner. I'm forever grateful for those opportunities.”

Hall of Fame Jockey John Rotz Passes Away at 86

Hall of Fame jockey John Rotz, a GI Preakness S. and GI Belmont S. winner, passed away peacefully Monday at his farm in Warrensburg, Illinois after battling a number of brain diseases, including dementia. He was 86.

Classy, polite and down-to-earth, Rotz was known as “Gentleman John,” a nickname he earned shortly after his riding career began in the fifties. After retiring in 1973, he worked as a steward at the NYRA tracks as well as at tracks in Louisiana, Ohio and Delaware. After ending his stint as a steward, he stayed involved with the equine world, competing in cutting and reining horse competitions, something he did until he was 81.

His widow, Mary, remembered Rotz as someone who had a fierce desire to win, but always remained humble and kind.

“My husband walked in humility,” she said. “He was such a wonderful, wonderful human being and I was so blessed to be married to him. He was the biggest man I ever met in my life.”

Rotz was born Dec. 16, 1934, in Niantic, Illinois. After graduating from high school, he started out at the racetrack as a hotwalker, groom and exercise rider at Fairmount Park. He started riding in 1953 and it did not take him long to graduate to bigger circuits.

He was North America's leading stakes-winning rider in 1969 and 1970 and was riding some of the best horses in the country.

Rotz became the regular rider of Gallant Bloom, herself a Hall of Famer and a champion 2-year-old filly in 1968 and a champion 3-year-old filly in 1969. He also rode Hall of Famer mare Ta Wee, the sprint champion in 1969 and 1970. Rotz teamed up with her to win 10 stakes races.

In a 2016 interview, Rotz said Gallant Bloom was his favorite horse and that he was most proud of his wins aboard Ta Wee. She twice beat males in the Fall Highweight H., including the 1970 running when she carried 140 pounds.

Rotz had two Classic wins, in the 1962 Preakness with Greek Money and in the 1970 Belmont with High Echelon. His other major stakes victories include wins in the Metropolitan H., the Alabama S., the Florida Derby, the Delaware H. and the Woodward S.

In 1973, he was named that year's George Woolf Memorial Award winner.

Rotz finished his career with 2,907 winners. He had to stop riding because an operation to remove a tumor on his right leg left him with damaged nerves.

In 1979 he was named the steward representing The Jockey Club at the NYRA tracks.

“[Being a steward] is tougher for me than riding was,” he said at the time. “You have to enforce rules, and it's tough to keep people happy when you enforce rules.”

He retired as a steward in 1983, the same year he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, but stayed involved in the equine world. Despite his age at the time, he became a top competitor on the cutting and reigning horse circuit. In 1987, he won the National Reining Horse Association Novice Horse Non-Pro World Championship. According to Mary Rotz, her husband was still riding in those events at age 81 and only stopped because he had to have a hip replacement.

“He was thrilled to win the Preakness and Belmont, but he got the same kick when he won at a cutting show or at reining show,” Mary Rotz said. “Any time he was on top of a horse he was happy.”

In addition to his wife, Rotz is survived by his sister, Ann Wubben.

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Golden Sixty Crowned Hong Kong Horse of the Year

Having secured champion 4-year-old honours in 2019-2020, courtesy of his sweep of the local Triple Crown, Golden Sixty (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro) capped a perfect 5-year-old campaign by being named the Horse of the Year in Hong Kong during ceremonies held Tuesday evening at Happy Valley Racecourse.

Bred in Queensland by Asco International Pty Ltd., Golden Sixty–an A$120,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast yearling turned NZ$300,000 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run breezer, took his overall winning streak to 14 during the season and to 17 from 18 overall, using his trademark and devastating turn of foot to defeat the evergreen Southern Legend (Aus) (Not A Single Doubt {Aus}) and defending champion Admire Mars (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}) for a breakthrough Group 1 success in the Longines Hong Kong Mile in December (see below).

After narrowly besting Southern Legend to win the G1 Stewards' Cup over the metric mile, trainer Francis Lui elected to stretch Golden Sixty back out in trip for the 2000-metre G1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup. In a slowly run affair, Vincent Ho set his mount alight three furlongs from home and looped the field, but fellow Derby winner Furore (NZ) (Pierro {Aus}) saved all the ground and the duo battled tooth and nail to the line, with Golden Sixty best by half a head (video). After giving serious consideration to taking on Japan in the G1 FWD QE II Cup in April, trainer Francis Lui stepped his charge back down for the G1 Champions Mile. It proved no easier, however, as his stablemate More Than This (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) ran him to a head in yet another nail-biting finish.

The lone finalist for champion miler, Golden Sixty was also named champion middle distance horse, earning the nod over Sky Darci (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}). The connections of the latter did not leave Happy Valley empty-handed Tuesday, as they were rewarded for their victory in the BMW Hong Kong Derby with this year's champion 4-year-old prize. The NZ$160,000 NZBJAN graduate won five of his nine trips to the post for champion trainer Caspar Fownes and followed his Derby score with his first open stakes success in the G3 Lion Rock Trophy H.

WATCH: Golden Sixty becomes a Group 1 winner in the Longines Hong Kong Mile

In what would have been a hotly contested division, Hot King Prawn (Aus) (Denman {Aus}) was named champion sprinter on the strength of a long-overdue first Group 1 tally in the Centenary Sprint Prize in January, with champion jockey Joao Moreira in the saddle. The Torryburn Stud-bred veteran, an A$90,000 purchase out of the 2016 Inglis Sydney Classic sale, left a pair of potential future champions in his wake, including G1 Chairman's Sprint Prize hero Wellington (Aus) (All Too Hard {Aus}) and the unbeaten Courier Wonder (NZ) (Sacred Falls {NZ}), who debuted–like all unraced newcomers–off a mark of 52 in October and finished on 107 after winning the G3 Sha Tin Vase H. in late May. Courier Wonder was named most improved horse for the 2020-2021 season.

Panfield (Chi) (Lookin At Lucky), a good third to Sky Darci in the Derby, clinched champion stayer honours with his season-ending success in the G1 Standard Chartered Champions and Chater Cup over 2400 metres. The Chilean import could be set for the G1 Melbourne Cup, trainer Tony Millard told the HKJC press team Tuesday.

The David Hayes trained Fantastic Treasure (Aus) (Written Tycoon {Aus}) was unbeaten in five starts, including a Class 2 score in May, and was named champion griffin for horses aged two or three on the date of the first Hong Kong meeting of the season and which were unraced upon their import into Hong Kong.

The final fixture of the 2020-2021 Hong Kong season is set for Wednesday night at Happy Valley. Racing resumes in early September.

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