As Able Friend ambled past onlookers at Newmarket yesterday it was clear the monster miler was saving his best for the track and the team guiding his Royal Ascot preparations say Hong Kong's champion is ready for the race of his life.
The media, who had gathered on the heath hoping for an explosive piece of fast work from the imposing raider dubbed the "Beast from the East", might have left disappointed as Able Friend produced a routine final gallop ahead of Tuesday's Group One Queen Anne Stakes.
Able Friend worked alone over five furlongs, his final four furlongs in around 52 seconds, with trackwork rider Thomas Yeung Kai-tong carrying a timing device on his helmet and reporting a final two furlongs of just over 25 seconds.
"That's exactly how he is in Hong Kong. He is a very laid-back horse," Yeung said.
"He looks after himself and he doesn't use himself much in trackwork. He knows how to save himself for raceday. I'm happy with it, and I'm not at all worried.
"The main indicator is he was having a good blow, which is what we wanted. He strode out beautifully, and to me that is the best indicator that he is fit."
The big chestnut has settled into Newmarket's serene surrounds so well that it seems nothing bothers him.
The five-year-old has not been fazed by a continuous whirl of film crews and photographers and crossing a busy road - which he had to twice on the way to the Cambridge Road polytrack yesterday - is done as calmly as any veteran.
But Yeung said Able Friend would undergo a transformation in the hours before the race. "On raceday, he is a very different animal. When we get him ready for the races, he prepares himself and gets ready to compete. He is extremely intelligent."
George Moore, son of Able Friend's trainer John Moore, said he had considered applying Able Friend's usual raceday gear of sheepskin cheek pieces for the gallop, the same equipment the horse wears in races and in gallops at home.
"He went out there with a hood as well, and that calmed him down even more, and galloping alone without a partner keeps him from getting too fired up, but I think he has done enough work to be at optimum fitness on Tuesday," Moore said.
The Cambridge Road polytrack was chosen out of Newmarket's myriad options for its gentle gradient. "There was only a slight incline, but maybe that's why he probably went a touch slower than we wanted," Moore said.
"But really there wasn't much in it, working up an incline you want to be slightly on the slower side than the quicker side anyway - going too fast, that's when you can cause an injury.
"Once you get here you aren't trying to get fitness into them. He has done everything right, his weight is right on 'winning weight', you couldn't really ask for anything more. The horse physio says his muscles are nice and loose, he is right on track."
