John Moore's chances of dominating Sunday's Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International race meeting slumped but Sacred Kingdom has reasserted his place as the sprinter to beat after outrageous fortune played its hand at yesterday's barrier draws.
'I won't sugarcoat it - it's a disappointing set of barriers,' said Moore, after two of his three major players - Viva Pataca (Vase) and Collection (Cup) - drew the extreme outside of the field and Happy Zero (Mile) came up with gate 11.
'It isn't an impossible ask, we have one of the best, most experienced Group One riders in the world, we'll just have to put some thought into our tactics.'
Stable rider Darren Beadman was more philosophical about the job ahead. 'In Australia, John Hawkes always used to tell me that the only difference with a bad gate is that it needs a 10 out of 10 ride from me,' he grinned. 'So I guess that's what millions of fans will be wanting. No pressure.'
Moore and Beadman might at least take some comfort in the Cup from the presence of Japanese mare Queen Spumante, whose exciting running style has been to get out to huge leads in her races.
'The draw in gate three is ideal for her - we can set the pace like she did last time when she won her Group One at home,' trainer Shigeyuki Kojima said.