Germany's top trainer, Andreas Schutz, has yet to win an international event in Hong Kong but is just as sure he has never gone away unhappy with his results.
'I have had quite a few runners, but whether I have come with one runner or a number, I don't think I've ever gone home without stake money,' said Schutz, whose hopes on Sunday will rest with a sole representative in Hong Kong Mile entrant, Eagle Rise. 'He looked all right today in his work. He is not normally a horse who needs a lot, but his last race was five weeks ago and I thought he needed that today. I'll see how he is, but my feeling is that he will probably need another blow on Friday.'
A first glance at his form begs the question whether the Danehill horse can perform on the firm ground he is likely to find on Sunday, but for Schutz the condition of the surface is not the query.
'He has raced mostly on soft ground so perhaps it looks like that is his preference, but I don't think he has any favourite ground,' the trainer explained. 'He is bred for faster ground and that doesn't concern me at all. My greatest problem is whether he is good enough to be a true Group One horse.'
Eagle Rise was a star two-year-old in Germany but didn't really measure up last year in his classic season.
'We aimed high with him as a three-year-old,' Schutz explained. 'We asked for too much and he was disappointing. But he had a quiet winter period, came back in smaller competition and has raced very well, winning three races including his last two in Germany and then Rome in Group Two races.'
Cologne-based Schutz, 36, a former successful amateur jockey, had a bitter-sweet start to his training career when he took over training the team of his legendary father Bruno in 1998, but it was not the most pleasant succession. His father had been diagnosed with a lung illness which eventually led to his death in June, 2000.