They’ve taken the honours at the last two Hong Kong International Races and many believe the Japanese will do so again on Champions Day this weekend, but it seems the local team have already landed the first blow.

According to leading Japanese journalist and commentator Naohiro Goda, Hong Kong superstar Golden Sixty is the “prime reason” there are no runners from the Land of the Rising Sun in the Champions Mile.

There’s not much in racing that scares the Japanese but so good is Francis Lui Kin-wai’s three-time Group One winner that he’s won half the battle before even stepping onto the racetrack.

“We don’t have any Japanese runners in the Champions Mile. The prime reason is the existence of Golden Sixty. He is a superstar, he looks unbeatable,” Goda said on a Jockey Club promotional video, adding in an article that the 2020 Derby winner has given the Japanese “cold feet”.

Champions Day to attract biggest Hong Kong racing crowd in over a year

It’s another feather in Golden Sixty’s cap and means he only has to face five rivals in Sunday’s race. Shooting for a 14th straight win, Golden Sixty still has to overcome defending champion Southern Legend but his task certainly would have been harder if he had Japanese rivals to contend with.

Golden Sixty was the only local galloper to salute at Group One level on international day last year – to go with Japanese pair Normcore and Danon Smash and Aidan O’Brien’s Mogul – and Goda is among the chorus of people who think the five-year-old will again be playing a lone hand.

There have been questions over the quality of Hong Kong’s sprinting ranks for some time and after Hot King Prawn and Classique Legend fell out of calculations and the main lead-up to the Chairman’s Sprint Prize – the Sprint Cup – was won by $179 pop Amazing Star, those concerns only grew.

Raider Danon Smash is the only Group One winner in the race – winning the Hong Kong Sprint and the Takamatsunomiya Kinen at his last two starts – and while the Chairman’s Sprint Prize has never been won by a Japanese horse, Goda believes that will change this weekend.

“He’s obviously the best sprinter in training in Japan. Hong Kong sprinters are still very fast, very strong and very tough ... but I believe Danon Smash will manage to win the Chairman’s Sprint Prize after a hard fight,” he said.

While Goda left the door slightly ajar for Hong Kong in the Sprint, that certainly wasn’t the case in the afternoon’s marquee event, with Japan to saddle up half the field in the QE II Cup (2,000m).

Leading local hopes Exultant and Furore face up to powerhouse quartet Daring Tact, Loves Only You, 2019 Hong Kong Vase winner Glory Vase and Kiseki and Goda wasn’t backward in coming forward, tipping the first Japanese QE II quinella since Eishin Preston and Agnes Digital filled the top two spots in 2002.

“The best hope for Japan is Daring Tact. The horse to beat for Daring Tact is I think Loves Only You. I believe the QE II will result in a Japanese quinella,” Goda said.

Callan speaks

Neil Callan has spoken publicly for the first time since being hit with a 28-meeting ban for his conduct during a stewards’ inquiry on February 3 at Happy Valley, thanking the racing fraternity for their support.

“The Callan family [is] so overwhelmed by all the message of support from all corners of the world. This is a deeply distressing and stressful time but Trish and the boys are with me every step of the way and will get through this and come out stronger! With love, the Callans,” the Irish jockey tweeted.

Callan is in the process of appealing the severity of the ban, lodging his notice to appeal last week and it is expected he will file his grounds of appeal this week with the hearing tentatively scheduled for Thursday, April 29.