The once unbreakable partnership between Brett Prebble and champion sprinter Sacred Kingdom was dramatically shattered following the Sprint Cup defeat, and trainer Ricky Yiu Poon-fai and owner Sin Kang-yuk will look for a change of rider as they pursue a record-equalling 18th win with their star galloper.
The Tony Cruz-trained front-runner Multiglory landed the Group Two prize, but all attention was on Prebble and the long-odds on the champ as he became strung up trying to squeeze between runners, before eventually hooking to the outside to run second, and narrowly miss equalling Silent Witness and Super Win as a winner of 18 races in Hong Kong.
It was the third consecutive second-placing for the former world champion sprinter, and Yiu was adamant a change of rider might now be the key to extracting that last win from his seven-year-old wonder.
'Sacred Kingdom cannot be this unlucky all the time with the same jockey, you know,' a disappointed Yiu said. 'He's run second to Dim Sum, second to the filly Sweet Sanette and second to Multiglory at his last few starts.
'The owner and I will discuss who will ride the horse, but I think Brett has just lost that spark that he used to have with Sacred Kingdom. It looks as though he is not as keen as he was when he first got on the horse.'
Prebble's dream run with Sacred Kingdom included two international Group One wins in 2009 - in the Kris Flyer Sprint in Singapore and the Hong Kong Sprint - as well as three domestic Group Ones, as part of his seven wins on the horse.
That record was a distant memory as they hit the line yesterday however, and Prebble realised at that moment that he had lost the ride forever.