Yesterday was the day Hong Kong racing laid out its big reputations to be tested ahead of the Longines International Races and it went to the annual script - with many of those reputations if not in tatters then definitely revised.
The Jockey Club Cup, Mile and Sprint were the preludes, the last stand for the up-and-comers to secure a berth in three weeks' time and that moment for the big guns to throw down the gauntlet to the foreign visitors who will be announced on Wednesday.
Zac Purton clung precariously to the jockeys' championship lead with one win to Douglas Whyte's four, but would have been more concerned about his feature-race rides as Horse of the Year Ambitious Dragon was turned over as a red-hot favourite in the Jockey Club Mile for the second year running - this time by Glorious Days - and Royal Ascot winner Little Bridge was the day's biggest flop, trailing in ninth behind arch-rival Lucky Nine.
"Ambitious Dragon didn't tow me into the race the way he did first-up - he is just a touch flat," said Purton, and he was in forgiveness mode for Little Bridge too, while Caspar Fownes was bouncing when Lucky Nine was the Jockey Club Sprint winner despite being "only 85 per cent right". "His coat hasn't come right yet since the trip to Japan," said the trainer. "And there's nothing like a race to bring him on. This horse will be much better on international day."
Leading big-race trainer John Moore also had a day to forget, saddling up 14 runners in the three features and 21 for the afternoon after losing one, Dominant, to a vet check in the morning and he failed to land a blow with the remainder.
"It's been a tough day but not like they ran poorly - we've had a lot of placings," said Moore, who took second, third and fourth behind California Memory in the Cup, fourth in the Mile and second and third in the Sprint.
"About half of them will push on to the international races. Packing Whiz didn't run out the 2,000m so we'll drop back to the Hong Kong Mile and Dominant has missed the run so we'll forget about the 2,400m race and bring him back to 2,000m next month."
Perhaps Ambitious Dragon's trainer Tony Millard spoke for Moore and Purton in the aftermath of defeat: "We've just got to move forward - I'd rather have a flat run now."
Even the fans had an off day - turnover down by HK$$4 million despite an extra race and attendance dropped by over 3,000 - but we're all moving forward towards December 9.
