Golden Sixty’s retirement is expected to finally become official next week before Celebration Cup Day on September 22 is used to farewell the most successful galloper Hong Kong has ever seen.

As reported by Sing Tao Daily on Thursday morning, it is believed the end of the 10-time Group One winner’s career will be announced at a press conference next Friday, September 13.

Talk of Golden Sixty’s retirement has been rife for months and most expected the nine-year-old’s fourth in April’s Group One Champions Mile to be his last run, but connections have held off making the final call.

Trainer Francis Lui Kin-wai confirmed in June that Golden Sixty would be kept in training until this season, which begins at Sha Tin on Sunday, with jockey Vincent Ho Chak-yiu declaring “he still wants to race” and the veteran handler indicating the magnificent miler could defend his Group One Hong Kong Mile crown on international day in December.

It always seemed a stretch that connections would ask Golden Sixty to go again in his nine-year-old season, however, and he will sail off into the sunset with a world record HK$167,170,600 in prize money to his name after winning 26 of his 31 starts.

His Hong Kong-record haul of 10 Group One victories includes three Hong Kong Miles, a record three Champions Miles and a pair of wins in both the Stewards’ Cup (1,600m) and Gold Cup (2,000m).

Golden Sixty will retire with more wins than any other Hong Kong horse and the son of Medaglia d’Oro went agonisingly close to another local record, with his 16 consecutive successes between September 2019 and December 2021 leaving him just one short of Silent Witness’ winning streak.

Golden Sixty was also just the second galloper to sweep the coveted four-year-old series, winning the Classic Mile, Classic Cup (1,800m) and Hong Kong Derby (2,000m) in 2020 to announce himself as something special.

He went onto become the first galloper to be named Hong Kong Horse of the Year in three straight years to go with his plethora of other Champion Award gongs, including four straight Champion Miler awards.

Golden Sixty will retire as Hong Kong’s joint top-rated galloper alongside Romantic Warrior, with the gelding’s electric victory in last December’s Hong Kong Mile prompting handicappers to lift his mark to a career-high 133.

The Jockey Club opted not to comment on arrangements and connections remain tight-lipped about the end of their superstar’s career.

Meanwhile, another galloper who has run his last race is 2023 Group One Blue Diamond Stakes (1,200m) winner Little Brose, with his retirement officially listed by the Jockey Club on Wednesday.

After running eighth on Hong Kong debut in April’s Group One Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1,200m), the David Hayes-trained Little Brose finished second at Class Three level before injuring his tendon in a Conghua trial in June and never making it back to the racetrack.