The Hong Kong Derby holds most of the discussion for Sunday about the four-year-olds, but the Group One HK$8 million Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup might tell everyone just as much about what looks a vintage classic crop.
Dundonnell and John Moore-trained Flagship Shine were always intended as Derby horses this campaign, but as "non-stayers" they will instead drop back in distance to 1,400m.
More importantly, they take on the open age Group One horses to give us a different prism through which to assess the worth of their generation.
The gloss has gone off Flagship Shine since his brilliant 1,400m win on international day, with significant defeats in the Classic Mile at 1,600m and the Classic Cup at 1,800m, but Moore is bullish that the gelding will still make his mark in the top grade.
"I think Flagship Shine is the right sort of horse to be competitive in a race like the Champions Mile," said Moore this week.
"He overraced in the Classic Mile without cover, and then he knuckled at the start in the 1,800m race and came out two lengths behind them, which didn't help, but he probably doesn't stay anyway."
How the four-year-olds measure up against the established Group One horses is always a point of interest as the season moves into its second half and Moore believes Flagship Shine can begin that testing process in this race, with some excellent benchmark contenders present such as Lucky Nine, Gold-Fun and Dan Excel.
"We jumped him out Thursday morning down the back straight and he left the gate very well, and I think it's fair to say he worked even better than expected. Joao Moreira came back really pleased with him," Moore said.
"Especially, given the quality of my other horses in the Derby, it made more sense to switch him to a more appropriate distance.
"His ideal is 1,400m to 1,600m; we've put his winkers back on and almost everything is in order, but gee, he can draw a bad gate can't he?"
Moore, however, said Flagship Shine would still be positive despite coming up with the outside draw in the field of 11.
"The way he jumped on Thursday morning, he's got the gate speed to do it and get over," Moore said. "Ideally, we'd have drawn a low gate and be able to give him a soft trail behind them, but that isn't possible, so we'll use the speed he has got."
