Local prospects of winning the HK$20 million Longines Hong Kong Mile - a hometown affair for eight years - are suddenly in doubt, with John Size-trained Glorious Days now likely to tackle the race first-up on December 8 after a setback to his preparation.
With the tendon injury to Ambitious Dragon, 2012 Mile runner-up Glorious Days would have been most racing fans' idea of the main local contender.
Size insisted the gelding's issue did not involve an injury and he was unconcerned about the unorthodox preparation.
"He looked great during the summer, having a spell after his trip to Japan, and everything appeared to be on track," Size said yesterday. "But when I started to work with him again, he just wasn't doing very well in the stable. So I gave him some more time off through a fair bit of September and that seems to have done the trick. He's back training again and now he seems in good order. So we'll press on and see."
The interruption means that the Stewards' Cup winner will not be ready for the Oriental Watch Sha Tin Trophy over 1,600 metres on October 27 and possibly not even the Group Two Jockey Club Mile in mid-November.
"I'm not too worried if we have to go first-up into the international race off a couple of barrier trials and that's the way I'm leaning at the moment," Size said. "He's a good horse fresh, he runs a mile out strongly, we know. I think he'd handle it."
The last locally trained runners to tackle the Mile first-up were Oriental Magic, who ran 12th for David Hayes in 2005, and Visionario, who was 11th for Sean Woods two years later. But both were having their first start in Hong Kong.
The Mile trophy has not left Hong Kong since Japan's Hat Trick won in 2005, but this year's foreign contingent is starting to look the strongest for some time.
Japan's champion sprinter-miler Lord Kanaloa may tackle the 1,200-metre or 1,600-metre event on international day, but connections had indicated he would go to the mile after his Yasuda Kinen win and now it looks increasingly likely that the sensational French filly Moonlight Cloud will come for the Mile.
Moonlight Cloud has won two Group One miles from four attempts but her extraordinary Prix de la Foret win over 1,400 metres at the Arc meeting in Paris removed any doubt about the distance, if there had been any.
Trainer Freddie Head said he believed Hong Kong was a better target than the Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita in California.
Sky Lantern, Richard Hannon's four-time Group One winner - three at a mile - is also set for Sha Tin, though connections reportedly may switch her to the 2,000-metre Hong Kong Cup.
