Horses like Falbrav and Rakti have really put Italian racing in the spotlight in recent seasons and the country's latest sensation, Ramonti, will be out to start his march down the same path in the HK$16 million Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Mile.
His trainers, Alduino and Giuseppe Botti, recently became the first stable in Europe ever to pass 300 wins for a season, and the Italians will present one of the more intriguing runners at Sunday's meeting.
With eight wins and three seconds from 12 starts, and only one defeat at all racing right-handed, Ramonti holds an exciting formline, but according to his rider, Endo Botti, it is only by tackling this kind of international race that the Bottis will find out just how exciting.
'He has had little racing so we are hopeful he is still improving and that he will turn out to be the top level,' Botti said yesterday at Sha Tin. 'Ramonti is a very nice horse in himself and has been winning very, very easily in Italy. He won a Group One at Milan beating Notability and Caradak, two good horses, and then he went to a Group Two in Rome and won even more easily by five lengths.'
The defeat of Caradak at Milan was hugely significant as that horse was coming off a Group One win in France's Prix Foret.
The front-running miler's only significant defeat was a seventh of 10 in the Group One Prix Jacques Le Marois at Deauville in August, but Botti is quick to dismiss that run as an aberration.