When big races come around, wise punters look to the yard of the training genius of Ivan Allan. But in the case of this afternoon's $2 million National Day Cup at Sha Tin, the maestro himself is looking cautiously at factors outside his normal field of vision.
Allan has won the National Day Cup in each of the past two years. In 2001, he captured it with the magnificent Fairy King Prawn, who then broke down and never saw a racetrack again other than for his farewell ceremony.
Last year, Allan did it again with Jeune King Prawn. And would you believe, the 'curse' struck again, with Jeune King Prawn breaking down and being forced into retirement as a last-start winner.
Allan is three-handed in today's edition with emerging top miler Ho Choi (Craig Williams), Classic Mile hero Self Flit (Weichong Marwing) and Singapore Classic winner Come See You (Jimmy Quinn).
'If the same sort of misfortune was waiting for the winner again this year, I'd rather not win it,' Allan mused last night. 'It was tragic that we didn't see Fairy King Prawn again after he won so well in 2001. In the case of Jeune King Prawn, he was always a very fragile horse and the effort he put into winning just proved a bit much for him.
'Hopefully this year I can have the best of both worlds - winning the race and having the horse able to go on with it.'