A Hong Kong Hero

Words / Michael Cox, Asian Racing Report

Stanley Chan talks about the pleasure, and pressure, of owning Hong Kong’s best horse, the Magic Millions graduate Golden Sixty

Owning the best horse in Hong Kong has plenty of upside. Stanley Chan is kicking back in a cafe in the hip neighborhood of Tai Ping Shan, admiring a mural of his horse Golden Sixty painted on the laneway wall opposite. The shop next to the mural, the upmarket equestrian tack store Horse & Hound, is selling limited edition Golden Sixty designer jackets and vests.

Then there is the HK$116 million (AUD$23m) Golden Sixty has banked through a career in which he has won a Hong Kong Derby, six Group 1s and at one time went more than two whole seasons without defeat.

It all seems like a dream to a lifelong racing fan like Chan, but there is a flipside to the fun – like the nerves that kick in when his horse regularly starts a very long odds-on favourite.

Stanley Chan

“I am not betting on my horse, because he is 1.1 or 1.2, but my heart is still thumping,” he says. “I am worried that something will go wrong in the race, some sort of accident, and when he gets past the winning post, I can relax. It is a relief.”

Then there was the time Golden Sixty’s winning streak was snapped at 16 – one short of the Hong Kong record set by Silent Witness – when the horse’s price was “money back”, 1.0 – but more on that later. Fortunately for Chan there have been more good days than bad: 22 great days out of 25, to be precise. That was Golden Sixty’s record at the time through four remarkable seasons. Not bad for a horse that cost just $120,000 at the 2017 Gold Coast Yearling Sale for $120,000, pin-hooked by Riversley Park and bought as a ready-to-run two-year-old by Chan.

Not that it is all about money for Chan. Hong Kong owners can get a bad rap for lacking sentiment or a sense of romanticism for the sport, but when Chan’s eyes fill with tears while recalling Golden Sixty’s 2020 Hong Kong Derby win, it is clear that this is about much more than prize money or fame.

“From last horse to first, it was really something, I can’t explain the feeling,” he says. “For Hong Kong people, and the horse racing fans, the Derby is the once-in-a-lifetime race. If you miss your chance, that is it.”

Chan grew up a tram stop away from Happy Valley in Causeway Bay and by the age of seven he was a racing fan, his idols were Tony Cruz, Eddie Lo and Co-Tack.

There is an immense sense of local pride for Chan and Golden Sixty’s all-Hong Kong team of trainer Francis Lui and jockey Vincent Ho, who has ridden the horse in each of his 25 starts at time of publication. It isn’t that remarkable that Golden Sixty started with a local trainer and jockey, but one of the oldest stories in Hong Kong racing is the horse that starts with a local and is transferred to an expat trainer, or the jockey replaced by a club rider, or both.

When Golden Sixty was defeated in consecutive Group 1s at odds of 1.0 and 1.2 last season, Ho’s tactical decisions were the subject of media scrutiny – never mind the fact he had ridden the horse to victory in 19 of its previous 20 starts.

Golden Sixty

“Of course I want to support the local jockey, each season we have less and less local jockeys. If we do not support the local jockeys then maybe in five years it will just be the gweilos,” Chan said, good naturedly using the Canto slang term for an expat. “Vincent was the jockey from day one, he was on the horse in trackwork in the morning right from the start, so why should I change the jockey?

“Even before Golden Sixty, we had built a relationship with Vincent through our other horses.”

It’s fair to say Golden Sixty has marked a change in luck with ownership. His previous three horses all ended up racing in Hong Kong’s lowest grade, Class 5, and had a combined record of five wins from 115 starts. Given that record it is clear that despite Golden Sixty’s heroics, Chan will take a realistic set of expectations into his future purchases.

“Even with those other horses, I enjoyed racing,” he says. “I don’t expect that I can find another horse like Golden Sixty, it is very difficult. If my next horse, if he can make it to Class 1 or Class 2 this is more than enough. It is really difficult to find a good one. Finding one as good as Golden Sixty is even harder.”

And now that Chan has got a good one, he plans on taking care of him. As Golden Sixty’s ratings and achievements have grown, so have calls for the horse to travel.

At the end of last season, Japan’s tough summer Group 1 mile the Yasuda Kinen was considered, but Chan said his horse’s long term health comes before any overseas ambition.

“After he won the Champions Mile in April, it was on a high temperature day, and Francis and myself decided we would give him a break instead of going to Japan,” Chan says. “We thought it would be better to give him a summer holiday.”

That holiday was rewarded when Golden Sixty made a spectacular return in the G2 Jockey Club Mile in late November. Heading into the race first-up, Golden Sixty faced the rising star California Spangle, who started favourite.

Golden Sixty produced what was arguably a career-best performance, clocking a remarkable set of closing sections to gun down the leader, who had been given a near faultless ride by Zac Purton.

Golden Sixty

As Golden Sixty and Ho crossed the line, the horse stretching his neck out with one last giant stride, Chan thrust his arms into the air and screamed to the crowd. It is an experience that could not be replicated anywhere but Sha Tin.

Now, in the relaxed atmosphere of the cafe, Chan sips his coffee, leans back in his chair and reflects on all of what his beloved horse has achieved – the records, prize money and accolades – and none of it means as much as Golden Sixty becoming a true Hong Kong hero.

In Hong Kong racing the two most competitive divisions are the sprinters and milers: last season it was Magic Millions graduates ruling the roost in both.

Not only was 2017 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale Golden Sixty named champion miler, and horse of the year, for the second straight season, but another Magic Millions bargain dominated the sprint category. The best sprinter award went to Wellington, a $70,000 purchase from the 2018 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, who closed the season with three straight wins, including two at top level.

Wellington’s wins in the Centenary Sprint Cup and a second straight Champion’s Sprint Prize cemented his place among the very best short course specialists in recent memory.

Richard Gibson’s gelding finished the season with a career record of ten wins from 16 starts and earnings of HK$40,056,190 (AU$7.1 million).

“He is one of the best sprinters in the world. It’s difficult to win these big Group 1 races back-to-back,” Gibson gushed of the son of All Too Hard after the Chairman’s Sprint Prize. “Try and win 10 races in Hong Kong; you need a darn good horse to do that. To win 10 races in Hong Kong is an exceptionally difficult thing to do.”

Both Golden Sixty and Wellington share more than just affordable prices at the Gold Coast Yearling Sale, they both arrived in Hong Kong as unraced horses – known as Private Purchase Griffins (PPGs) – and worked their way through the grades.

Wellington

Golden Sixty won his first three starts and six of his first seven starts before reaching Group race company and Wellington also won his first three starts in Hong Kong.

The trend in Hong Kong is towards PPGs, shifting away from the expensive tried horses that have become harder to buy in Australia.

Golden Sixty’s owner Stanley Chan will certainly be seen around the sales ring in years to come.

“There are people paying HK$10million (A$2m) for tried horses and they sometimes don’t win a race,” Chan said. “We really didn’t have to pay too much for Golden Sixty and we had the fun of watching him climb up through the grades. Every win was a highlight."