It will come as little surprise to anyone that Francis Lui Kin-wai has no intention of going anywhere with Golden Sixty, with the veteran handler finally putting a definitive line through the chances of his superstar miler heading abroad.

Right up until the weekend, however, Lui had left the door ever so slightly ajar when asked about the potential of the nine-time Group One winner testing himself overseas.

Following Golden Sixty’s Champions Mile victory, he said “it’s a very hard decision, I think maybe I’ll discuss it with the owner and Vincent and decide what to do” when queried about whether a trip to Japan remained on the table.

But at Happy Valley on Wednesday night, the 64-year-old was as candid as he’s been on the matter, saying that if Golden Sixty was ever going to travel, it would have had to have been at the back end of his all-conquering five-year-old season in 2020-21.

Undefeated across seven starts that campaign, including four Group One victories, Golden Sixty ticked all the boxes for an international raid but for the myriad of Covid-19 restrictions Hong Kong was under at the time that made it near impossible for connections to head away with a horse.

Lui will instead focus on ensuring Golden Sixty comes back somewhere near his best for next season, hinting at a Hong Kong International Races swansong for his seven-year-old.

There is still hope, however, that one of Hong Kong’s genuine top liners will chase overseas riches in the near future, even if it’s shaping as increasingly unlikely that it will be Lucky Sweynesse flying the Bauhinia flag.

Trainer Manfred Man Ka-leung has confirmed his gun sprinter will not be stretching out to a mile for next month’s Group One Yasuda Kinen in Japan, while a trip to Sydney for The Everest on October 14 seems to be losing whatever momentum it had.

Just a couple of weeks later, however, Danny Shum Chap-shing could pitch Romantic Warrior into the ultimate of tests in the Group One Tenno Sho Autumn (2,000m) at Tokyo, a race in which he could meet the current highest-rated horse on the planet, Equinox.

In Shum, Hong Kong racing fans have someone they can pin their hopes to with a little more confidence because he’s got genuine motivation to travel.

Following Romantic Warrior’s Group One QE II Cup (2,000m) victory last Sunday, Shum said “probably October I’ll send him to Japan to take his first start” of next season.

“The owner really wants to do it, and I would like to do it as well. I have a history because my ex-boss Ivan Allan won the Yasuda Kinen [with Fairy King Prawn] and I hope I will follow him successfully and win a Group One there,” Shum said.

While beating Equinox might be a pipe dream, there’s a very real chance Shum will never again get the chance to travel with a horse of Romantic Warrior’s quality.

In the meantime, fans might get something to whet their appetites, with Group One winners Wellington (Platinum Jubilee Stakes) and Panfield (Takarazuka Kinen) entered for overseas contests before the end of the 2022-23 Hong Kong season.

Record slipping for Purton?

Plenty has been made of Zac Purton’s attempt to break Joao Moreira’s single-season win record of 170, and for much of this term, the reigning champion jockey was ahead of the asking rate.

But after slipping behind in March, Purton has got ever so gradually further off the pace and needs to up his output through the final quarter of the season if he’s to reach his goal.

His 127 wins through 67 of the 88 meetings has him on track for around 166 successes, and he needs more than two victories a meeting on the run home.

He hasn’t been far off that pace recently, with 19 wins from the past 10 fixtures, and we know all too well how easily he can reel off a four- or five-timer to get himself right back on track.

The news that Lucky Sweynesse is not going to Japan does help his cause, as a clash between the Yasuda Kinen and the Sha Tin fixture on June 4 would have cost him a meeting, but there’s very little room for error for the Australian as he chases a slice of history.