Golden Sixty needed all the urgings from his rider, Vincent Ho, and the 5,719 in attendance at Hong Kong's Sha Tin racecourse to secure Sunday's Group 1 FWD Champions Mile.
Recording his 14th consecutive win and fourth Group 1 in total, the world's joint top-rated miler powered into the lead rounding the home turn but was made to sweat for his win by a fast-finishing More Than This, ridden by Joao Moreira.
“He has never been chased and we learnt today that he still can fight when something chases him, not just when he is doing the chasing, which is good,” Ho said of Golden Sixty.
“That was amazing (to have a crowd), a big thanks to all the fans today who came out, it makes such a difference, the atmosphere and everything is so much different.
“It's been a good season, seven races for Golden Sixty and I'm happy for him to win this, hopefully he will have a break now until next season, he had a couple of tough runs these past two,” the rider said.
Japan secured a sixth win in the FWD QEII Cup with Loves Only You, also ridden by Ho, leading home a Japanese 1-2-3-4. Triple Crown-winning filly Daring Tact was second.
“I can't describe it,” Ho said, reacting to a pair of G1 successes in the space of 40 minutes.
“I don't dare to look back until the finish line but she was amazing. I'm grateful that the Japanese connections asked me to ride her.
“The QEII Cup is one of my dream goals as well as the Derby and the December internationals, a QEII win means a lot.
“It's amazing today with Golden Sixty and Loves Only You. It's definitely one of the highlights, I'll enjoy it for sure.”
The connections of Loves Only You celebrate the filly's QEII win
Wellington, trained by Richard Gibson and ridden by Alexis Badel, showed an impressive turn of foot to notch his first Group 1 in the Chairman's Sprint Prize earlier on the card.
“It's fantastic to see the fans back today and I'm just delighted for the owners. They were one of the first owners in my stable when I came here. They've been very loyal and supportive and it's a great satisfaction to source and deliver such a great horse”, said Gibson.
With crowds returning in safe numbers, three fantastic Group 1 races and betting turnover hitting a record HK$1.611 billion (approx. US$207 million) for the Champions Day meeting, Hong Kong Jockey Club Club CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said: “It's great to have people coming back to the racecourse for a meeting of this quality. Golden Sixty kept his unbeaten record and, if you look at the performances of Loves Only You and Wellington, it was an amazing day.”
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