New Zealanders shine on Hong Kong’s biggest stage

The world-renowned Hong Kong International Races have carried a strong New Zealand flavour throughout the last three decades, and that tradition continued in an outstanding 2023 edition of the Sha Tin showpiece on Sunday.
With a sparkling performance in the Hong Kong Sprint, Lucky Sweynesse joined a list that began with Romanee Conti in the 1993 Hong Kong Cup and extended to fellow Kiwi stars Sunline, Vengeance Of Rain, Lucky Owners, Able One, Ambitious Dragon, Beauty Generation and Aerovelocity.
A desperately unlucky sixth in the same race 12 months ago, the Sweynesse gelding would not be denied in 2023. Held up again soon after rounding the home turn, top jockey Zac Purton angled Lucky Sweynesse across heels and out into clear air with 250 metres remaining.
Time was rapidly running out for Lucky Sweynesse to work through his gears and chase down the leader Victor The Winner, but his superstar qualities shone through and he roared past that rival 100 metres from the finish. Lucky With You and the Jamie Richards-trained Wellington produced big late runs to reduce the margin to three-quarters of a length, but there was no doubting Lucky Sweynesse’s superiority.
The Hong Kong Sprint was the 15th win of a 21-start career for Lucky Sweynesse and his fourth at Group One level. He had previously made up for last season’s Hong Kong Sprint disappointment with an elite treble in the Centenary Sprint Cup, Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup and Chairman’s Sprint Prize.
Lucky Sweynesse has earned the equivalent of almost NZ$15 million, which dwarfs his $90,000 purchase price at the 2020 Ready to Run Sale at Karaka.
The superb sprinter was bred by Novara Park principal Luigi Muollo in partnership with Paul Dombroski and New Plymouth trainer Allan Sharrock. Muollo told RaceForm on Monday that Sunday’s big win set the record straight after last season’s luckless run.
“He obviously would have won the race last year if he’d got a clear run, so it’s nice that he’s knocked off all the big sprints in Hong Kong now,” he said. “He’s a very good horse and he showed that last night.
“I did have a bit of a sinking feeling when he was held up again in the straight. It was a flashback to last year, when we knew he was the best horse and he just didn’t get his chance. Fortunately it was a different outcome this time around.”
Muollo and his associates are continuing to breed from Madonna Mia and other close relatives, including Lucky Sweynesse’s Queensland Oaks-placed full-sister Signora Nera.
“I’ve had an outstanding year of foalings with relations to Lucky Sweynesse, so it’s all quite exciting,” Muollo said. “I’ve got a full-brother foal in the paddock, a colt by Sweynesse out of Madonna Mia. There’s also a three-quarter-brother who’s out of Madonna Mia’s half-sister Belle Hope.
“There’s a Bivouac colt out of Signora Nera as well, and I’ve just heard that Signora Nera is positive and 42 days in foal to Staphanos. Looking through the pedigree pages and what I’ve got coming up, it’s outstanding. Hopefully there’s quite a lot more to look forward to.
“I think I’ll keep the fillies and sell the colts. I’ve already retained a Wootton Bassett filly out of Signora Nera. It was nice to see the Contributer half-brother to Lucky Sweynesse sell for $550,000 at the Ready to Run Sale at Karaka recently, and I suspect the full-brother will be even more valuable when he gets to the sale ring. He’s an outstanding type.”
Lucky Sweynesse became the seventh Hong Kong Sprint winner in the last nine years to be either bred in New Zealand or sold through the Karaka sale ring. Freakish Pins gelding Aerovelocity won the race in 2014 and 2016, followed by Karaka graduates Mr Stunning (2017 and 2018), Beat The Clock (2019) and Sky Field (2021).
The next of the Group One features on Sunday’s card was the Hong Kong Mile, which was won for the third time in the last four years by the incomparable Golden Sixty.
Age is showing no sign of catching up with the eight-year-old, who has set all-time Hong Kong records for Group One wins and prize-money. He has now won 10 times at the elite level and banked more than HK$165.8 million, which is the equivalent of just under NZ$35 million.
Golden Sixty’s astonishing career has made him one of the most popular horses to ever grace Hong Kong’s racetracks, and he sent the 65,000-strong crowd into raptures with his customary scintillating burst from off the pace on Sunday. Making his performance even more remarkable, he was lining up for his first start in 224 days and had to jump from the extreme outside gate of 14.
“He’s a monster,” jockey Vincent Ho said. “When I asked him for an effort, he lengthened like I can’t believe. He’s still got that turn of foot. It’s crazy.”
Ho has been in the saddle for every single one of Golden Sixty’s 30 career starts. They have won 26 of those races, placed in another three, and earned an unprecedented three consecutive Hong Kong Horse of the Year titles.
Ho’s name is a familiar one to New Zealanders, having spent some of his apprenticeship with Matamata trainer Lance O’Sullivan from 2008 to 2010. He rode in 341 races in New Zealand in that time, coming away with 44 wins.
The runner-up in Sunday’s Hong Kong Mile was Voyage Bubble, ridden by James McDonald. The champion expat Kiwi jockey went one better 45 minutes later, guiding Romantic Warrior to a successful defence of his Hong Kong Cup title.
Edging out Aidan O’Brien’s triple Group One winner Luxembourg in a grandstand finish, Romantic Warrior completed an unprecedented double – his second Hong Kong Cup victory came just six weeks after a similarly nail-biting triumph over Mr Brightside in the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley.