With Hong Kong International race entries closing at various local times around the world yesterday, nominations due to be announced today should carry the usual fanfare. While the list of the world's best horses entered for the occasion is traditionally whittled down to a select handful over the coming weeks, the announcement should be awaited with some sort of optimism again by racing fans.
For one thing, there is the prospect - depending on what occurs at the Breeders' Cup meeting at Santa Anita - that horses like Sulamani and Eishin Preston could be deciding the title of world champion at Sha Tin.
This is the scenario the Hong Kong Jockey Club hoped would come about with the Hong Kong Cup as the final World Series leg. It didn't happen last year, although the runaway winner Grandera did run, but this year is promising.
Fans here will again have their eyes on the Sprint. The race that fell to the local quinella of All Thrills Too and Firebolt last year and saw all the locals finish close-up will again boil down to the best of the quick runners from Hong Kong and Australia.
After the mud stopped flying in Europe's top sprint, the Prix de l'Abbaye, on Sunday, it seemed connections of the English-trained runner-up, The Trader, were talking about a return to Sha Tin.
The Trader ran in 2001, finishing on behind Falvelon, Morluc and All Thrills Too at a respectful distance, but that would hardly be good enough to consider him a winning threat. And, although a three-year-old when he ran, it seems unlikely that he will be that much better just short of his sixth birthday.
On the other side of the world, Japan's Group One Sprinters' Stakes on Sunday saw a rousing performance from the top mare Believe, who looked desperately unlucky to be grabbed on the post by the big finish of Durandal from last. The five-year-old mare, who was thrashed down the straight at Sha Tin in December last year, won't be among the Japanese entries as the Sprinters' was her final bow before stud. But her brave effort suggested the ongoing query over the competitiveness of the Japanese short-course horses remains.