Golden Sixty, California Spangle and Romantic Warrior will face off in a must-see edition of the G1 Stewards’ Cup at Sha Tin on Sunday. Hong Kong veteran JA McGrath marvels at seeing such world-class performers on the local scene.
Any writer will tell you that building up big races in advance is fraught with danger. Critics dismiss it as hype. Unnecessary and unwelcome. Those close to the horses involved often complain endlessly.
But if you are a race fan you might well have a different view. You live for the days when the stars go head-to-head, and the anticipation, over months and weeks, is all part of it. It’s exciting and why racing remains a fascination for so many.
Only three months ago, the Qipco Champion Stakes at Ascot was billed as one of the biggest events in British racing in a decade. Baaeed was going for 11 straight wins in the last race of a meteoric career. Pages and pages were devoted to the race in the trade journal, the Racing Post.
Even the ‘serious’ newspapers, generically referred to as Fleet Street, got caught up in it – which is really something as racing correspondents are needing to fight hard even to get a small racing story in print these days.
Baaeed was meeting the previous year’s Derby and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner Adayar plus Bay Bridge, a top-class five-year-old for legendary Derby-winning trainer Sir Michael Stoute who had been narrowly beaten in what is usually Royal Ascot’s top race nowadays, the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes.
However, neither rival rated more than a casual mention as writers pumped up the unbeaten star proclaiming him the best since Frankel.
In the event, Baaeed struggled into fourth behind Bay Bridge, Adayar and his own stablemate My Prospero. Possibly it was because the ground had become testing; maybe a longish campaign took its toll. Whatever.
But the real point here is that Baaeed and the Champion Stakes were built up disproportionately to the factual reality. With expectations so high, post-race there was a sense of disappointment. Bay Bridge and Adayar were warriors, yet they weren’t celebrated as such. Instead, it became a search for excuses for Baaeed.
Where am I heading here, you must ask? Think of what we journos wrote about the following: Affirmed and Alydar (1978) or Sunday Silence and Easy Goer (1989) in the US; in Australia, Big Philou and Rain Lover (1970); in France, Dahlia and Allez France (early 1970s).
In some cases, we were right
Thankfully, racing has served up its share of great clashes over the past 50 years. And we hyped them to the heavens. In some cases, we were even right.
So what about Golden Sixty v California Spangle, with Hong Kong Derby winner Romantic Warrior thrown in? How does that grab you? All three clash in the Stewards’ Cup, a Group 1 event over a mile at Sha Tin on Sunday.
And … wait for it … some pundits are already billing it as the best race run in 2023. Admittedly, the year is not yet a month old, but even so, just look at theThoroughbred Racing Commentary Global Rankings, where they stand at #8 (Golden Sixty), #9 (Romantic Warrior) and #11 (California Spangle). When you consider that four of those sitting above them have been retired, they are all comfortably inside the world’s Top Ten.
To have such top-class performers, all trained domestically and racing against each other in Hong Kong … well, let’s just say it would have been unthinkable a few years ago.
Hong Kong has come a long way in its 52 years of professional racing. Even in the 1980s, when its first international races were staged, it would have been absurd to suggest there might be horses in the top bracket globally running there on the local scene.
But a steady upgrading of the quality of bloodstock has brought us to this point. With three world-class horses competing against each other, Sunday’s Stewards’ Cup represents the pinnacle of that progression.
Fantastic champion
Golden Sixty is a fantastic champion. He has won 22 of his 26 starts, being beaten for the first time late in his first season when he was over the top. His other three defeats have arguably been due to jockey error. Connections have remained loyal to Vincent Ho when there must have been pressure to find a replacement.
The son of Medaglia D’Oro also won the Hong Kong Derby, the most prestigious race on the domestic calendar. That mile-and-a-quarter distance took him out of his comfort zone but he still emerged triumphant.
However, on his most recent start on December 12 as he attempted to complete a hat-trick in the Longines Hong Kong Mile, Golden Sixty was beaten by California Spangle, who was given a brilliant front-running ride by Zac Purton. California Spangle is 9-for-14; he’s never finished out of the first two placings.
Incredible Hong Kong Cup winner Romantic Warrior, the third megastar in the big clash, has won nine out of ten, with his only defeat coming in the Classic Cup when he found himself trapped wide from an awkward draw. He is the one who is least exposed and the suspicion is there is plenty more to come.
From the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s perspective it is pleasing that the three big guns were all imported unraced. Their respective talents have been nurtured and developed by local trainers Francis Lui (Golden Sixty), Tony Cruz (California Spangle) and Danny Shum (Romantic Warrior).
How can it not be great?
What makes this edition of the Stewards’ Cup so unique in that the three are unlikely ever to clash again. Romantic Warrior looks certain be campaigned almost exclusively over a mile and a quarter, while Golden Sixty will probably stick to one mile. California Spangle has the class and versatility to drop back in trip or stretch out beyond a mile.
It should be a great race; that’s a given. How can it not be great? Tactics will be important, and nobody should ever be discussing a big race in Hong Kong without knowledge of the barrier draw. It is so important to the outcome. If Golden Sixty draws reasonably well, I believe he will be the one to beat.
Either way, this is a magnificent clash in prospect. This is a race to truly savour, one that might be talked about for years to come.
And I promise I am not merely hyping things up.
• View previous articles in the View from the Rail series
• Visit the Hong Kong Jockey Club website
Hong Kong’s hometown hero on the verge of history – JA McGrath on Golden Sixty
Epsom Derby dozen: who are the early front-runners for the premier Classic?
Kentucky Derby: who are the early front-runners for America’s most famous race?
Flightline: ‘A Halley’s Comet of a racehorse’ – Jay Hovdey pays homage to an equine great
View the latest TRC Global Rankings for horses / jockeys / trainers / sires