Champion miler Good Ba Ba may have won seven more Group One races and nearly three times the prize money, but Egyptian Ra is the 'handicapper's tip' for the HK$8 million Group One Stewards' Cup at Sha Tin tomorrow - or is he?
'Well, not really,' said Jockey Club chief handicapper Nigel Gray yesterday. 'If I was to be tipping one of them to win the Stewards' Cup, it would be Good Ba Ba - it's just a quirk of system that Egyptian Ra is rated higher than Good Ba Ba.'
Yes, the ugly truth is Egyptian Ra was recently hoisted to a domestic rating of 134, or three points superior to Good Ba Ba, who has so much more gold and silverware and a head-to-head record of 6-4 against his rival.
They will race off level weights tomorrow, theoretically giving an edge to Tony Cruz's bold frontrunner over Good Ba Ba, the triple Hong Kong Mile hero seeking a third successive Stewards' Cup.
But Gray (pictured) wasn't backing domestic ratings as a guide, pointing out the situation is reversed by the same margin when international ratings are considered.
'The difference in the two is that domestic ratings are designed to equalise horses which will actually run against each other in handicap races in Hong Kong,' he explained. 'The international ratings have another intention - to accurately reflect the relative merits of high-class horses from different parts of the world.'