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Champions Mile 2015i

The 2015 Champions Mile is a Group One race, run over 1,600m, for horses aged three years or over held on May 3, 2015. With prize money of HK$14 million, it is a target for overseas horses, although Hong Kong's strength at a mile means it has become a less attractive target in recent years. Nevertheless, 2014 saw the first international winner, South Africa's Variety Club.

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Everyone else might be excited about the prospects of Luger stretching or even beating Able Friend in the Group One Champions Mile at Sha Tin this afternoon but a long career in training has taught John Size that one of the basics is not to put the cart before the horse.

Able Friend strikes an imposing figure when walking out for trackwork each morning and performs his trademark pause, ears pricked, at the edge of the track. He also has the racetrack record to match the body builder physique, but by nature he is so quiet trainer John Moore reckons "a kid could ride him".

There have been some famous upsets in match races, but jockeys Zac Purton and Joao Moreira are not feeling any extra pressure going into the Champions Mile on Sunday.

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Officials for England's premier race meeting, Royal Ascot, will roll out the red carpet for Able Friend should the world's equal-highest rated horse do as expected and win Sunday's Champions Mile at Sha Tin.

The colossal shadow of the world's joint top-rated racehorse, Able Friend, has left the Jockey Club unable to attract a foreign runner to the HK$14 million Champions Mile next month for the first time since it became an international event.