“Better than Golden Sixty at the same stage” - Francis Lui delighted with Hong Kong's hot prospect

Quietly spoken trainer Francis Lui Kin-wai isn’t prone to hyperbole, so when he used the words “better than Golden Sixty” after Hot Delight’s win as a short-priced favourite, it stopped reporters in their tracks.

There was key context to the headline soundbite, though – “better than Golden Sixty at the same stage” – Lui added, saying Hot Delight’s development is ahead of the retired champion, who retired in 2024.

“The odds today told the story – 1.25 – he needs to keep improving but he does look better than him (Golden Sixty) at the same stage. But you never know what happens as they step up and get challenged.”

Hot Delight went into yesterday’s 1200-metre Class 3 after climbing nine points off his debut, but he’ll cop a bigger hike from the handicappers today after dominating from on-pace and scoring by two and three-quarter lengths.

A rating in the mid-70s would have Hot Delight well placed already for the 2027 Hong Kong Classic Mile, and Lui said he’ll pace the prospect’s runs accordingly.

“He will have one or two more runs this season, we won’t push him too high,” he said. “But I think up to a mile, no problem.”

Golden Sixty made his debut for Lui on March 31 of his three-year-old season, rattling off three straight wins over 1200 metres to reach a mark of 75 before a late-season defeat over 1400m. That loss was his last for more than 900 days – a period in which Golden Sixty stormed through the Four-Year-Old Classic Series and stacked back-to-back unbeaten seasons.

The edge Hot Delight has over most horses his age is a mental one, Lui said.

“He is a good horse, he learns fast – especially after that first run, he was more relaxed and that is the main thing for a young horse – his mind,” Lui said.

Winning jockey Vincent Ho Chak-yiu was there with Golden Sixty from start to finish, riding him from debut to start 31 – 26 of them wins.

Ho is taking a keen interest in Hot Delight’s development in the mornings – riding him in trackwrk – and echoed Lui’s view on the horse’s intelligence, but he was less keen to throw the former champion’s name around.

“You can’t compare, it’s too early to compare him to a horse that great – and they are different kinds of horses, Golden Sixty never won by those kinds of margins – he knew his job was just to be in front and would just do enough to win on the day,” Ho said.

“Hot Delight is something, though – he has learnt a lot since that first run and we noticed that in the morning that he learns fast. Let’s see how he develops – I am confident that he is a nice horse – but we won’t know just how good he is yet. When Golden Sixty was three – we knew he would be good – but we only really found out at four. You really can’t tell you how good a horse is or even predict what his best distance will be at this stage.”

Still, Ho was happy to offer another comparison – recent Classic Mile winner Little Paradise, likely to start favourite in the Hong Kong Classic Cup over 1800 metres on March 1, the second leg of the Four-Year-Old Classic Series.

“Just like Little Paradise, he won over 1200m at three, that wasn’t his best distance. They are winning because they are too good at that distance in that grade – in future? Let’s see.”