Archaic conditions of entry for Wednesday night's feature event, the Happy Valley Trophy, look like robbing racegoers of their first sight of exciting first-season import Alf.
The John Moore-trained three-year-old has been given a rating superior to a few of his rivals already qualified to run, yet finds himself fifth on the reserve list, with little likelihood of getting into the field.
As this is the first leg of the Sprint Championship, it would be expected that the best possible field would face the starter and Alf's likely absence certainly detracts from the race.
Alf has been working stylishly in recent weeks and looked ready to go when sent over 1,200 metres yesterday morning.
He ambled through the first 800 metres before picking up to put the last quarter behind him in 23.9 seconds. The classy New Zealand-bred youngster won three races from six starts before coming to Hong Kong and trialled impressively at the last Happy Valley barrier trial session.
It has cost connections a princely sum to import this Group One winner and they certainly deserve a better fate - one can only hope that a few of the lesser lights are withdrawn before final acceptances.
Bruce Hutchison's Aspiration has been one of the more consistent gallopers over the past 12 months and the son of boom sire Danehill is certainly overdue a win. He didn't have a lot of luck at the Valley last time out when third to Sound Gallop and gets his chance to atone on Wednesday night in the 1,800-metre Broom Handicap.