IT would look to be a straight fight between Golden Sixty and Exultant for the most coveted title in Hong Kong racing, the accolade of Horse of the Year. The Ballygallon Stud-bred Exultant must have a great chance of landing it as he won his 13th race, bringing his earnings to almost €8.3 million, with success on Sunday in the Group 1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup, his second victory in the contest.

He has now won five of his 10 starts at Group 1 level, never finishing worse than third. This was the final Group 1 of the Hong Kong 2019/20 racing season. Three years on from chasing home Thunder Snow and Churchill in the Irish 2000 Guineas (then named Irish Correspondent) when trained by Michael Halford, the son of Teofilo (Galileo) has been a model of consistency, finishing out of the first three on just five of his 29 runs, and never running worse than fifth.