Vincent Ho is readying for one of the most prominent chapters of his riding career which will begin writing when Golden Sixty makes his reappearance later this month before his bid for a third straight G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile (1600m) success in December.<\/p>
The two-time Hong Kong Horse of the Year (2020\/21 & 2021\/22) will return in the HK$5 million G2 BOCHK\u00a0Private Wealth\u00a0<\/em>Jockey Club Mile (1600m) on 20 November, one run before he\u2019s chanced at becoming the second three-time LONGINES Hong Kong Mile winner after the brilliant Good Ba Ba.<\/p> Speaking on Tuesday (1 November) at Sha Tin\u2019s barrier trial session, Ho discussed the honour he feels each time he dons the silks of Hong Kong\u2019s champion \u2013 a now iconic set of white, blue and gold that carry the hopes of a city infatuated with horse racing. \u00a0<\/p> \u201cTo be honest, every time I put on those colours, it\u2019s something special,\u201d Ho said.\u00a0<\/p> \u201cIt gives me goosebumps when I put them on \u2013 it really is my privilege to be on him and I am still very humble about how lucky I am to be able to ride him, to meet this once-in-a-lifetime horse with his connections and the stable \u2013 we cherish it a lot.<\/p> \u201cEven people that aren\u2019t in racing, they\u2019ve heard about Golden Sixty. It\u2019s all about him, it\u2019s about him being a great athlete. He\u2019s the one who should take all of the honour. I\u2019m really lucky and especially thankful that Francis (Lui) and (owner) Mr Chan support me.\u201d<\/p> Following his Four-Year-Old Classic Series sweep and subsequent return to racing in September of 2020, Golden Sixty was touted as heir apparent to the great Beauty Generation \u2013 who previously held Hong Kong racing\u2019s throne for numerous seasons.\u00a0<\/p> \u201cWhen Golden Sixty started racing and COVID-19 began to hit, I hope it gave a lot of people some joy and that it was something to look forward to when he raced. Horse racing is a sport and it\u2019s supposed to be like this, it\u2019s about him, he\u2019s the athlete and he\u2019s there for a lot of people to support. I hope more people will support him \u2013 he\u2019s like an icon, he\u2019s amazing,\u201d Ho said.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column] Golden Sixty wins the 2021 G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile (1600m).<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Ho, 32, has been in the plate for each of Golden Sixty\u2019s appearances across his record-breaking 24-start career featuring 21 wins and six at Group 1 level, all of which has returned an unrivalled HK$113,400,600 in prize money \u2013 a Hong Kong racing record.<\/p> \u201cEvery season when I come back, I want to know how he is doing but everything is always positive and I am really grateful for that. We\u2019ll do our best to get him there with his fitness right on point and do our best to win what we plan for him,\u201d Ho said.<\/p> Sounding an ominous warning to rivals, Ho feels as though Golden Sixty \u2013 as a seven-year-old \u2013 moves like a juvenile that\u2019s readying for his two-year-old debut, not next month\u2019s HK$30 million LONGINES Hong Kong Mile. \u00a0<\/p> \u201cHe\u2019s still got his fresh legs, like new horses, very fast legs \u2013 it doesn\u2019t feel like he is seven years old at all, he is very light on his feet.<\/p> \u201cHe\u2019s more mature but with weather like the other morning (18 October) and this morning (high winds), he shows that he is still very sensitive. He\u2019s a very sensitive horse with the environment and especially with new changes but he can adapt very fast and that\u2019s what is good about him,\u201d Ho said.<\/p> Ho partnered Golden Sixty in a routine gallop on the dirt at Sha Tin yesterday morning (Tuesday, 1 November) as the countdown to his race day return continues.<\/p> \u201cI rode him in trackwork this morning, he feels very well. Everything is on track \u2013 he felt great and I can\u2019t wait to bring him out and let everyone see him again, it\u2019s exciting and I think everyone will be excited to see him again \u2013 it\u2019s been a while,\u201d Ho said on Tuesday.<\/p> Ho is likely to hold a strong hand at the HK$110 million LONGINES Hong Kong International Races \u2013 led by his association with Golden Sixty \u2013 which will most likely see him feature with a quartet of rides across the four Group 1 contests.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p> Golden Sixty is trained by Francis Lui and owned by Stanley Chan.<\/p> This Sunday (6 November), Ho will partner the Caspar Fownes-trained Senor Toba in the HK$3.9 million G3 Sa Sa Ladies\u2019 Purse Handicap (1800m) at Sha Tin. The steely grey is one of the home team\u2019s leading HK$22 million G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Vase (2400m) hopes.<\/p> \u201cThe 2400 metres in December (LONGINES Hong Kong Vase) will suit him.<\/p> \u201cThe horse feels really good, he ran well last start and he should run very well again. Even though it was a bit too short he was still strong through the finish line,\u201d Ho said.<\/p> Senor Toba closed for sixth in last month\u2019s HK$5 million G2 Oriental Watch Sha Tin Trophy Handicap (1600m).<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”31157″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] The Toronado gelding placed in the 2021 G1 Queensland Derby (2400m) one run prior to export from Australia. His career-high in Hong Kong returned a strong-closing third in the 2022 G1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (2400m) behind Russian Emperor.<\/p> \u201cHe\u2019s one of the best horses in Hong Kong over 2400 metres along with Russian Emperor, of course, the overseas horses are always strong in the Vase though,\u201d Ho said.<\/p> Senor Toba holds a rating of 109 and will carry 127lb when he lines up against Beauty Joy, Ka Ying Star, Columbus County, Excellent Proposal, Savvy Nine, Butterfield, Turin Redsun, Money Catcher and Celestial Power.<\/p> Senor Toba is expected to contest the HK$5 million G2 BOCHK Jockey Club Cup (2000m) on 20 November following this weekend\u2019s run as his final prep race for December.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”31156″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Vincent Ho is readying for one of the most prominent chapters of his riding career which will begin writing when Golden Sixty makes his reappearance later this month before his bid for a third straight G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile (1600m) success in December.The two-time Hong Kong Horse of the Year… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":31159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"2normal","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31154"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31154"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31386,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31154\/revisions\/31386"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}