{"id":2955,"date":"2020-02-21T14:29:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-21T06:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ctr-campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/?p=2955"},"modified":"2020-02-21T17:28:04","modified_gmt":"2020-02-21T09:28:04","slug":"round-two-for-golden-sixty-and-more-than-this-in-hong-kong-classic-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/news\/round-two-for-golden-sixty-and-more-than-this-in-hong-kong-classic-cup","title":{"rendered":"Round two for Golden Sixty and More Than This in Hong Kong Classic Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
[vc_row el_class=”section-padding-top”][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”2016″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” css_animation=”none” el_class=”title”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/div>\r\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”2958″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Stablemates Golden Sixty and More Than This will clash again in Sunday\u2019s (23 February) HK$10 million Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m) in what amounts to a battle for pole position on the road to the BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m).\r\n\r\nGolden Sixty accelerated impressively to win the Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m) last month with More Than This a strong-closing second. The weekend\u2019s rematch has shades of the 2014 Classic Cup when Designs On Rome turned the tables on his stablemate Able Friend, which set up an epic head-to-head in that year\u2019s Derby.\r\n\r\nThe exciting Golden Sixty \u2013 beaten only once in nine starts \u2013 has since had to overcome a sickness and that setback plus the extra distance of the Four-Year-Old Classic Series\u2019 second leg adds to the intrigue of a fascinating encounter.\r\n\r\nFrancis Lui remained measured in his appraisal of both his stable stars at Sha Tin this morning (Friday, 21 February).\r\n\r\n\u201cGolden Sixty had a temperature two weeks ago so it\u2019s hard to say if he can beat More Than This and the others this time but he galloped this morning with another horse and he seems to be coming back,\u201d the trainer said.\r\n\r\n\u201cI\u2019m a little bit worried but he\u2019s been scoped, we\u2019ve kept an eye on his blood count and that\u2019s all fine, he looks like he has recovered quickly.\r\n\r\n\u201cHe\u2019s going from 1600 to 1800 metres so there are more questions in my mind about Golden Sixty than More Than This for this race, but it\u2019s hard to say what the result will be.\u201d\r\n\r\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
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Golden Sixty holds off More Than This to win the Hong Kong Classic Mile.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Lui was satisfied with how his two have worked this past week. While Golden Sixty stretched out with a work companion under regular race rider Vincent Ho this morning, More Than This galloped on his own on Thursday under Zac Purton.\r\n\r\nHo has continued to err on the side of caution when assessing Golden Sixty\u2019s chances of being at enough of a peak to win the Classic Cup just two weeks after he spiked a fever.\r\n\r\n\u201cHe\u2019s an amazing horse, one of the best I\u2019ve ridden but unfortunately he has had an issue and is still in the process of recovering and getting his fitness back. I don’t think he\u2019s at his top at the moment, he\u2019s coming back gradually,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\nBut Ho was still able to pick out some positives for the Medaglia D\u2019Oro gelding\u2019s first attempt at beyond a mile.\r\n\r\n\u201cI\u2019ve worked him on the grass (on Tuesday) and this morning I worked him on the dirt and he still felt okay. It is 1800 metres this time, and from barrier seven I hope to get him relaxed behind horses and then have a good turn-of-foot. I think the probable lack of early tempo should suit him,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”2959″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Purton, meanwhile, is looking forward to his first race ride on More Than This. The champion jockey has been on board for four gallops and a barrier trial since Ryan Moore steered the bay to the runner-up berth in last month\u2019s Classic Mile.\r\n\r\n\u201cHe\u2019s going well \u2013 he just went through the paces for me this morning,\u201d the Australian said. \u201cHe had a nice gallop on Monday on the grass when he followed another horse; he didn\u2019t join it, it was just giving him something to look at, something to follow.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe view widely-held is that More Than This will relish the step up in distance while Golden Sixty, the horse with the easy speed and dazzling kick, will be pushing towards his limit, if not beyond.\r\n\r\n\u201cGolden Sixty is still the horse to beat if he\u2019s in the same form as last time,\u201d Purton said. \u201cHe\u2019s got more tactical speed than my horse and he\u2019s got a better turn-of-foot but I don’t see going up to 1800 metres being a problem for him.\u201d\r\n\r\nLui mulled over the stamina question around Golden Sixty and came down on the positive side, for this race at least.\r\n\r\n\u201cLooking at how he runs I think he can handle another 200 metres,\u201d he said, while of More Than This he added: \u201cHe\u2019s a bit lazy in his track work but in his races he always tries hard in the straight and it looks like the extra distance will help him a lot.\u201d\r\n\r\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”2960″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Purton was undone by gate nine last week when his mount Exultant was unable to peg back the front-running Time Warp and he was not thrilled about More Than This drawing widest of all in gate 10.\r\n\r\n\u201cOnce again, I\u2019ve drawn a bad gate which makes my life hard again in a race where it doesn’t look like there\u2019s much speed to take us along. That\u2019s a concern \u2013 when you draw wide in races with no speed it makes it very hard,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\nPurton and Ho are looking to bag a first win in Sunday\u2019s feature but they face solid competition, with the John Size-trained pair of Champion\u2019s Way and Beauty Legacy third and fourth in the Classic Mile and primed to challenge.\r\n\r\nBeauty Legacy is the mount of premiership leader Joao Moreira who has bagged five G1 wins in Hong Kong this term, while Ryan Moore will fly in to take over on Champion\u2019s Way having lost the ride on More Than This.\r\n\r\nThe field also includes the John Moore-trained Enjoying, a dual G2 winner in Australia, and Savvy Nine; Playa Del Puente is set to represent the Danny Shum stable, Ricky Yiu will saddle World Famous, Private Secretary will take his chance for the Tony Cruz stable, and Frankie Lor will attempt to follow Mission Tycoon\u2019s win in the race last year with the progressive Reliable Team.\r\n\r\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”2958″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Stablemates Golden Sixty and More Than This will clash again in Sunday\u2019s (23 February) HK$10 million Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m) in what amounts to a battle for pole position on the road to the BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m). Golden Sixty accelerated impressively to win the Hong Kong Classic… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"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":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2955"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2955"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2962,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2955\/revisions\/2962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}