The absence of champion Able Friend from the Group One Stewards’ Cup on Sunday has left the race looking a bit bare but also opened up the way for a new top grade miler to spring up.
One side story to the race will be the returned of Luger, who suffered his second heart irregularity in the Champions Mile last May and faces compulsory retirement if he has another, but the lack of Able Friend in the line-up is the other.
Many of the horses who have chased him to the line in the last eighteen months will be there trying to take advantage of that absence and for that reason the race is probably going to be one of the more open Group One miles of recent times, with Joao Moreira’s presence on Contentment perhaps making him favourite but not guaranteeing it in a deep field.
Giant Treasure, second in the last Hong Kong Mile beat Contentment home there and must be a great chance again, while Beauty Flame beat both Able Friend and Contentment in the lead-up, the Jockey Club Mile, so he must be a great chance and Ryan Moore has been snapped up for him.
The other Group One is the Centenary Sprint Cup, now a 1,200m race for the first time after the 1,000m Group Ones in Hong Kong were scrapped this season.
Also a deep race, it will be a trial race for a trip to Dubai for horses like last year’s star sprinter, Paul O’Sullivan-trained Aerovelocity, another on the heart irregularity comeback trail and who has trialled brilliantly.
The Hong Kong Sprint trifecta Not Listenin’tome, Gold-Fun and Peniaphobia lines up along with Super Jockey, all are likely Dubai runners. Strathmore also reappears and has to run well to prove himself worthy of a trip to the desert.
Richard Gibson ran second on international day with both Giant Treasure and Gold-Fun, so he will be looking for some revenge in the two big events.
By Nathan Mody
