Panthalassa and Golden Sixty hit the jackpot again in Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong
Much of Flat racing’s attention at the weekend was focused on the world’s richest race, the Saudi Cup, along with the main event’s valuable supporting contests. For the second year running, it was the Japanese contingent which stole most of the headlines, successful in three of the races, after four wins last year, but this time landing the big one among their haul.
In fact, Japanese horses took four of the first five places in the Saudi Cup, with Panthalassa holding on from last year’s Dubai World Cup winner Country Grammer who filled the runner-up spot for the second year running for Bob Baffert, this time ridden by Frankie Dettori.
Lots of credit must go to Panthalassa, an admirably game front-runner who has had some hard races around the world in the last 12 months or so, to his trainer Yoshito Yahagi whose international profile has been raised dramatically in the same time-frame since landing a double at the 2021 Breeders’ Cup, and to his fellow Japanese trainers for their enterprise in seizing good opportunities to pick up the dollars in the desert which were going begging.
Because while it’s true to some extent that events at King Abdulaziz racecourse highlighted again Japan’s now well-established ability to compete successfully on the world stage, it has to be said that the Saudi Cup, for all its massive prize fund, takes much less winning than, say, the Arc, as the Japanese themselves know only too well. With Baffert’s other runner, the more-fancied Taiba, disappointing and last year’s locally-trained shock winner Emblem Road only sixth this time, it was almost by default that the Saudi Cup was largely left for the Japanese to carve up among themselves.
Panthalassa is a very smart horse, certainly, but no top-notcher, not that his connections will care too much about that with another £8m in the bank. That, by the way, compares with the £56,000 that Lord North – with whom Panthalassa shared the spoils in last year’s Dubai Turf – earned the same day from winning the Winter Derby at Lingfield. Yahagi’s other winner, Bathrat Leon, earned the equivalent of £750,000 for his Group 3 win on the Saudi Cup undercard, though this was the same horse that had been a 66/1 shot when only fourth in last summer’s Sussex Stakes and struggled against Europe’s top milers again in the Prix Jacques le Marois.
Another large Japanese raiding party is being assembled for Dubai World Cup night and no doubt they’ll make their mark again there too, even if Godolphin, for one, should put up more of a resistance than the hosts managed in Riyadh last weekend and where the Godolphin presence was minimal.
The Japanese had found success harder to come by, despite again showing up in force, at the Hong Kong International Races last December. That brings us to what was arguably the true highlight of the weekend as the best horses in action in the Northern Hemisphere were not to be found in Saudi Arabia at all but at Sha Tin where the high-class pair Golden Sixty and Romantic Warrior met in the latest round of what is proving a compelling rivalry.
They’d avoided each other in December when Golden Sixty had contested the Hong Kong Mile, which he was bidding to win for the third year running, while Hong Kong Derby winner Romantic Warrior remained over a mile and a quarter for the Hong Kong Cup.
Golden Sixty’s surprise neck defeat – only the fourth time he’d been beaten in as many seasons – at the hands of Hong Kong Derby runner-up California Spangle whom he’d beaten on the two previous occasions they’d met, was quickly followed by Romantic Warrior taking his record to nine wins from ten starts with an impressive four and a half length victory.
Among those left trailing by Romantic Warrior was none other than Panthalassa who was swallowed up in the straight and beat only two home, while another of the beaten horses to come out and win a very valuable international prize recently was Hong Kong’s Russian Emperor in fifth; he won the main event, the Amir Trophy, at Qatar’s big meeting the weekend before the Saudi Cup.
As well as proving that Hong Kong had some high-class performers capable of seeing off the Japanese challenge, the results at Sha Tin in December also showed that Hong Kong’s reigning Horse of The Year Golden Sixty – a shade below his best on the day – nonetheless had at least one serious challenger to his title. When Timeform published its global rankings for 2022 the following month, we had Romantic Warrior on 129, ahead of Golden Sixty on 128, with California Spangle just behind on 126.
That was all good on paper but what was really needed was a) a rematch between California Spangle and Golden Sixty and b) a clash between Golden Sixty and Romantic Warrior. There wasn’t long to wait before both questions were answered in the same race because all three of them met in one of the most keenly anticipated contests of recent years in Hong Kong in the Stewards’ Cup in January.
Despite Romantic Warrior dropping back to a mile, he was sent off the even-money favourite just ahead of Golden Sixty, winner of the race in 2021, on 15/10, with California Spangle 29/10 and the remaining four runners at long odds. The big three dominated throughout, with California Spangle adopting his usual front-running role, Romantic Warrior a close second and Golden Sixty stalking the pair. Romantic Warrior threw down his challenge on the home turn but didn’t have the pace to assert whereas Golden Sixty, right back to his best, quickened once getting a gap between the leading pair and won with a length to spare over the rallying Romantic Warrior who took second by a neck from California Spangle.
‘Hong Kong’s horse of a generation wins the race of the decade!’ exclaimed race caller Mark McNamara as the winner passed the post. If Hong Kong’s racegoers wanted more of the same, they only had four weeks to wait as Golden Sixty and Romantic Warrior met again in the next leg of Hong Kong’s ‘triple crown’, the Hong Kong Gold Cup last Sunday. California Spangle wasn’t involved this time which made it 31/1 bar the two in a fascinating rematch. Despite the result from the previous month, and that Golden Sixty had proved himself over the longer trip in the past when winning the same race two years earlier, Romantic Warrior was backed to turn the tables back over ‘his’ trip and was sent off at 1/2 with Golden Sixty 13/10.
In California Spangle’s absence, it was Money Catcher, third in the Hong Kong Cup in December, who did duty up front this time, with Romantic Warrior in close attendance but Golden Sixty a bit further adrift and not travelling particularly well down the back straight. Again Romantic Warrior struck for home under Karis Teetan some way out to expose any stamina flaws in his rival but Golden Sixty had the move covered entering the straight and found plenty under Vincent Ho to edge ahead in the final fifty metres for a head victory.
Golden Sixty’s eighth Group 1 took his record to 24 wins from 28 starts, while his earnings equate to around £14.5m, a Hong Kong record. The huge prize money on offer in his own backyard is the main reason why Golden Sixty has yet to be tested overseas, but it’s hard to argue with his fantastic record at Sha Tin and any notion that he hasn’t beaten much doesn’t hold water – Romantic Warrior is clearly a high-class performer too, though Golden Sixty now just has the edge, by 128 to 127, on current Timeform ratings.
But those who’d like to see Golden Sixty tried abroad could get their wish in June as, if he does go overseas, it will be for the Yasuda Kinen in Tokyo which has been won by Hong Kong’s Fairy King Prawn and Bullish Luck in the past. Alternatively, there is the final leg of the triple crown to consider, though that would mean going into unknown territory over a mile and a half in the Champions & Chater Cup. Before then, there’s also the prospect of Golden Sixty bidding to win the Champions Mile at the end of April for the third year running, while Romantic Warrior has his own title to defend in the same day’s QEII Cup over a mile and a quarter.
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