Golden Sixty: Hong Kong Hero To Happy On The Hawkesbury
Muskoka Farm in Australia is the perfect place for retired champion Golden Sixty to take a well-earned break before he heads to his ‘forever home’ in Hokkaido.
GOLDEN SIXTY’S reputation preceded him before the star guest arrived at Muskoka Farm. The crib notes passed along from Sha Tin to the picturesque farm just outside of Sydney read ominously: “careful, he bites.”
So to see a chilled Golden Sixty ambling around his riverside paddock you’d be mistaken for thinking that tip sheet was for a different horse, not the fierce competitor that won a world record HK$167,170,600 (US$21.5m) in prizemoney and is widely considered the greatest Hong Kong horse of all time.
Of course Golden Sixty was also the horse that was well known for ‘nipping’ his handlers and even taking a bite at Vincent Ho, the jockey who rode him in all of his 31 career starts and would bring carrots to the superstar in his stable every day.
Muskoka’s general manager Robbie Hewetson has been at Muskoka nearly four years now, long enough to not be surprised at Golden Sixty’s dramatic personality change.
“That is just what happens when horses come here, it’s just such a relaxed environment that horses just switch off,” says Hewetson, a veteran who is best known for his work with the O’Sullivan family in New Zealand. “He got off the plane, we gave him a hose down, wiped his face and he was relaxed right away. Not a problem at all.”
Perhaps Golden Sixty knows he doesn’t need his game face on anymore and that it is time for a rest. He certainly earned it, and the spectacular setting is conducive to ‘chilling out’: the towering granite banks of the Hawkesbury create a natural amphitheatre that seems to shut out the rest of the world. At times it seems unnaturally quiet.
When Muskoka’s assistant manager (quarantine) Lisa O’Shea walks towards Golden Sixty with a headcollar and the gelding gently dips his head in cooperation. Life in the 280 acre farm’s prime paddocks is clearly agreeing with Golden Sixty, who maintains the athletic look of a horse not long out of work. His coat still glows and even though the gait has slowed, he still walks with fluidity and purpose.
Golden Sixty last raced in the 2024 Champions Mile and was officially retired in July. The eight-year-old is in Australia for three months so he can meet quarantine requirements before heading to his ‘forever home’ at Northern Park in Hokkaido.
One of the benefits of a late switch of plans that saw Golden Sixty head to Muskoka and not Arrowfield Stud, is that Muskoka has its own Australian government-approved quarantine stables that allow horses to be taken straight from the farm and placed on flights to Hong Kong, Malaysia, mainland China and, in Golden Sixty’s case, Japan.
Exhibit B in the case of what Muskoka can do for a highly strung horse’s demeanor is in a paddock next to the quarantine stables. Sprinter Aerovelocity was a menace on the racecourse and off. On the track he was at one time considered the world’s best sprinter: during the 2014-15 season he won Group 1s in Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore in the space of six months. Off the track, he was more than a handful: he once broke a handler’s arm and it took every bit of assistant trainer Pierre Ng’s horsemanship to get Aerovelocity saddled for each gallop or race, let alone leg a jockey aboard and get the horse out on the track.
Here at Muskoka ‘Aero’ is as relaxed as a shy old cart horse and doesn’t go anywhere without fellow Hong Kong hero Dan Excel.
“They are best mates, they just love each other,” Hewetson says of the pair, who won Group 1s on the same night in Singapore, 2015: Aerovelocity in the KrisFlyer Sprint and Dan Excel in the SIA Singapore Cup. That night the horse’s respective owners, Dan Excel’s David Boehm and Aerovelocity’s Daniel Yeung, forged their own strong friendship during celebrations, which resulted in the horses being retired to the same farm.
Muskoka Farm was developed by fast food franchise investor Bob Lapointe and his wife Wendy, starting in 1969 until its sale in 2011. It features an 1800m turf and a 2800m sand track, complete with starting gates and inside running rail, perfect for pre-training. The facilities have attracted high profile clients like trainer Chris Waller and the farm also handles the breaking in of more than 70 yearlings per year.
“I have travelled a lot around the world, I think this place is right up there for quality,” Hewetson says. “We had three Golden Slipper winners in the space of ten years that started here – Sebring (2008), Mossfun (2014) and Estijaab (2018). Redzel started out here and pre-trained for his two Everest wins. This year, we had four horses that were broken-in or pre-trained here win four Group 1s between them. Southport Tycoon won the Australian Guineas and Manikato, Manaal won the Sires’ Produce and Private Life was pre-trained here before winning the Caulfield Guineas.”
It’s a solid list of horses, but for now the star resident is Golden Sixty. As he relaxes in the equivalent of the farm’s presidential suite, overlooking the river, the owners of the racehorses spelling nearby, or those in the quarantine section bound for Hong Kong, can only wish that some of Golden Sixty’s greatness rubs off on them.
“Take a look at him,” Hewetson says with admiration, as we say goodbye. “He is a special horse … the great ones like him have something unique about them. Good horses are different, they have a brain, and they have an aura about them. When he got here, Golden Sixty was quite incredible. I was a bit wary about letting him out there straight into a paddock after all of those years in a stable, but he just walked off the truck and walked around like he had been here for years.
“He will certainly be getting plenty of TLC here, just like all of our horses. He is a happy horse.” ∎
