"It is not about the money" is a line rarely uttered by or about John Moore, but it rings true on what could be a history-making day for Hong Kong racing as the trainer prepares to unleash Able Friend at Royal Ascot on Tuesday night (Hong Kong time).

Moore does not set out to win the most races each season - although so far this term he has.

Instead, he makes it his stated goal to win the most prize money, a category he has dominated to record-setting levels in recent times.

Yet it is not money but prestige that convinced the 65-year-old Moore to set Able Friend for a shot at today's Queen Anne Stakes, where a win will deliver a first prize of almost £230,000 (HK$2.76 million), out of a total purse of £375,000, to connections - comparable to a Group Two race in Hong Kong.

In fact Moore's runners collected more prize money at Sha Tin last Sunday racing in handicaps than Able Friend is competing for today in one of the most eagerly anticipated races of the year - not that it matters to the expat Australian.

"This is probably the premier meeting on the planet and that's the reason we are here - prize money isn't a consideration," Moore said.

"It's just to prove Able Friend is the leading middle distance horse in the world and to do Hong Kong proud."

Able Friend has won six successive races in effortless style at Sha Tin this season to dominate domestic racing and until last week was the equal highest rated racehorse in the world.

That title is now held solely by US Triple Crown-winning hero American Pharoah and to take the mantle back, Able Friend will have to produce a career-best performance in the presence of Queen Elizabeth.

"We want to do it on the world stage - it's one thing to walk across the road and do it at Sha Tin, but now he has to travel, and if he is to deliver, he needs to bring his A game," Moore said.

Of the 12 previous Hong Kong-trained horses to race at Royal Ascot, two have won - Cape Of Good Hope (2005 Golden Jubilee Stakes) and Little Bridge (2012 King's Stand Stakes) - but Moore's monster will be just the second runner from the relatively small racing jurisdiction to compete in a non-sprint contest, the other being Bowman's Crossing, unplaced in the Queen Anne Stakes in 2004.

"We are coming over to take on the locals, not only in their backyard, but at their own game too, over a mile and not a sprint," the trainer said.

"We are racing against the horses that won't come to Hong Kong, we've had to come here to find them. These are seriously talented horses he is up against."

Early favourite for the race is exciting French gelding Solow, also a winner of six straight, and whose trainer Freddy Head applauded Moore and owner Cornel Li Fook-kwan for bringing Able Friend halfway around the world for a shot at glory.

"It's great for Hong Kong racing to have a super champion like him and I think it is very brave to come and take on a race like the Queen Anne," Head said, backing Moore's assertion that Able Friend had to race abroad to prove his rating.

"I don't think I would come to Hong Kong with Solow, it's just not suitable, that's why they are very courageous and I think it's a very good thing for racing."

One of the concerns for Able Friend was a badly rain-affected surface, something the horse has not experienced, but ideal conditions should prevail with Ascot's clerk of the course Chris Stickels saying that most of the weekend rain had missed the course.

"The track is mainly good ground right now and we expect it to be rated good and good to firm in places," Stickels said yesterday.