Graham Cunningham: Ballydoyle reap rewards for bold international campaigning

The racing bubble remained intact and Hong Kong racing crowned a new king as Golden Sixty made a world-class field look ordinary in the Hong Kong Mile at Sha Tin on Sunday. Ireland and Japan also had plenty to celebrate as the sun set on a unique HKIR day and the results of four Group 1 contests worth over £9 million made several things abundantly clear.

Golden Sixty is one of the world's elite

The facts are as taking as the stunning visual impression. Golden Sixty faced six Group 1 winners on his first venture into top company and cut them down with ruthless efficiency. In doing so he clocked a remarkable 66.9secs for the final 1200m and recorded the fastest final 400m on the entire card (22.05secs) even after running way faster through the middle sections than in previous efforts over a mile.

Hong Kong's head of handicapping Nigel Gray suggested that Francis Lui's runner will be rated on or around 124 when the World's Best Racehorse Rankings are announced next month. That puts him just behind the best in the world and perhaps the most impressive thing about his relentless progress is that Sunday's win suggests he could be capable of better still given the right horses to test him.

Beauty Generation shouldn't be forgotten

The old king was a one-paced fifth as his successor roared clear and he heads into retirement having finished behind Golden Sixty in all their three head to heads. But it would be folly to hold that against him. The fact that stud value seldom enters the equation means that HK stars race on much longer than in Europe but it often means that some of the biggest stars sign off on a relative low note.

Beauty Generation: enjoyed a dazzling career in Hong KongCredit: Hong Kong Jockey Club

But, for all that Golden Sixty is coming for Beauty Generation's records, he's not there yet. Beauty Generation still holds two of the three track records he has set at Sha Tin and, with eight top-level victories and around £10 million in prize-money, his place in the HK Hall of Fame is assured.

A glance at the 2018 Hong Kong Mile is in order for anyone tempted to assume Golden Sixty would have won had they met at their peak. Beauty Generation mauled his rivals that day, strolling well clear of a field that included Sunday's runner-up Southern Legend, and Zac Purton summed his reign up perfectly by saying: "It felt like he was invincible for a long period there, because he was."

Ballydoyle's HKIR backing pays off

Not all Aidan O'Brien stars peak when they travel long distances and Magical was just a fair third in Sunday's Cup but Coolmore continue to roll the dice for the world's most valuable races in the northern and southern hemispheres. Mogul's commanding Vase win on Sunday earned connections £1.1m and the knowledge that they have another budding globetrotter on their hands.

There seems little doubt that O'Brien will target Sha Tin again in 2021. Time will tell whether his leading British counterparts will follow suit but, at the end of a year when prize-money has been hit hard at the top end, it beggars belief that there wasn't a single UK horse in any of Sunday's four Group 1 contests.

Ryan reminisces after HKIR hit and run

Rumours of Ryan Moore's demise as O'Brien's number-one rider for 2021 appear to have been greatly exaggerated. Almost 20 years on from his first visit to HK, Moore didn't have to work hard on Mogul but seemed to make a crucial difference to Japanese raider Danon Smash, threading his way inside in dynamic fashion from stall 14 then producing him perfectly in a Hong Kong Sprint where the first seven home were covered by a quarter of a second.

Moore spoke eloquently about his long-standing affection for HK afterwards, saying: "I came here when I was 18 when they were doing the breeze-up sale and I remember watching Douglas (Whyte) ride all the winners."

Douglas has departed the riding scene but Ryan remains. And his two wins and a place in Sunday's Group 1 contests generated around £3m in prize-money – slightly more than his 477 rides in the UK and Ireland added together during the Covid-hit 2020 campaign.

Happy Valley Wednesday card

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