Golden Sixty is likely to face a capacity field for the first time since the 2020 Derby (2,000m) when he attempts to become the first galloper to win three Group One Longines Hong Kong Miles in non-consecutive years.

The connections of 13 runners, including five from Japan and one each from France, Ireland and Singapore, are keen to take on Golden Sixty as he seeks to regain the title he won in 2020, retained in 2021 but lost in 2022 when one of his local rivals, California Spangle, beat him by a neck.

Danon The Kid, runner-up to Romantic Warrior in last season’s Group One Hong Kong Cup (2,000m), is the best known of the five Japanese raiders, but he may not pose the biggest international threat to Golden Sixty joining 2007, 2008 and 2009 winner Good Ba Ba as a three-time Hong Kong Mile champion.

Both Namur (first) and Soul Rush (second) defeated Danon The Kid (fifth) in Sunday’s Group One Mile Championship at Kyoto, while eighth-placed Serifos jumped as the $3.2 second favourite and stuck on better than any of the other on-speed gallopers.

Danon The Kid, Namur and Serifos have Group One wins to their credit, while Soul Rush – whom four-time Hong Kong champion jockey Joao Moreira is likely to ride in the HK$32 million race on December 10 – and Divina have Group Two triumphs on their resumes.

Divina has had an unconventional preparation for the Hong Kong Mile, with her most recent start happening in the Group One Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2,200m) at Kyoto, in which she was seventh behind Brede Weg.

Andre Fabre’s Tribalist, winner of Friday’s Listed Prix Tantieme (1,600m) at Saint-Cloud, is France’s Hong Kong Mile representative, while Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien is saddling up this year’s Group One Irish 2,000 Guineas runner-up Cairo.

Lim’s Kosciuszko compounded in the 2022 Group One Hong Kong Sprint (1,200m) to slide from third to last in the straight. Singapore’s star performer, whose domestic top-level successes have occurred over distances up to 2,000m, is set for another crack at Hong Kong International Races glory.

Eight-year-old Golden Sixty headlines Hong Kong’s half-a-dozen milers, with defending champion California Spangle, Beauty Eternal, Beauty Joy, Voyage Bubble and Encountered also likely to fly the Bauhinia flag.

Even if Golden Sixty wins this season’s Hong Kong Mile, it will not make him the oldest winner in the race’s history because Able One was a nine-year-old when he was victorious in its 2011 edition.