THE eyes of the racing world were focused on Sha Tin on Sunday and racing in the territory came of age with three international contests fit to grace any festival anywhere in the world.
Although assigned only domestic Group One status, the inaugural running of the International Vase proved the highlight of the meeting, with Red Bishop produced in impeccable style by Cash Asmussen to score in an exceptional two minutes and 25.1 seconds.
The lack of competition over the 2,400-metre trip of the Vase tempered any initial reaction to a winning time that took a massive 4.1 seconds off Wonderful Way's previous best - after all Double Take cut the old record by 2.3 seconds despite finishing only ninth - but there really should be no doubting the merit of this performance.
Red Bishop earned a Topspeed rating of 125, a top-class figure by anybody's standards and one that stands up as a worthy Group One performance anywhere in the world.
To put this effort into perspective we only have to look at the best middle distance staying performances in Europe this season.
Derby hero Erhaab closed 126 at Epsom, Balanchine recorded 129 in the Irish Derby, King's Theatre returned 128 in the King George and last year's Melbourne Cup winner and duel Irish St Leger scorer Vintage Crop has proven himself capable of running to a rating of 126.
