There are not many Group Two races in the world which would qualify for the list of the world's top 50 races, compiled by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities, but the Sha Tin Trophy would be one.
It's place in our calendar ensures it is stuffed full of the best horses in town and Sunday's edition would have crept into the world's top 20.
The list is based on the average international ratings of the first four across the line, but that figure is then averaged over the most recent three runnings to qualify for the top 50.
On Sunday, Military Attack (international rating 123) beat Gold-Fun (120) and fourth was Blazing Speed, who carried a 118 international score in the Champions Mile in May and has since won the Champions & Chater Cup, so his level is probably holding.
Third-placed Ambitious Dragon? The last time he was given an international mark he was on 124. Maybe that figure got docked for an 18-month absence from racing, but there's no official update we can find anywhere so putting him in with that number averages better than 121.
Of course, then it has to happen three years running, it isn't a Group One, it's a handicap, yada yada yada.
Actually, we don't care. It was just a really long-winded way of saying what a cracking field it was.
And we wouldn't want it to be tampered with or even upgraded locally to Group One, because it's a preparation race and thus doesn't deserve to ever be a Group One, regardless of personnel or conditions - something that seems to have been lost on some of our friends in other jurisdictions.
No finger pointing or naming names, but really, Australia, seriously?
So, as a preparation race on the path to Longines international day, what did we learn from it? Despite a red-hot field, the glaring lack of pace in the Sha Tin Trophy on paper was backed up by an even more glaring lack of the same on Sunday and a very slow pace always downgrades the worth of form. The first 400 metres barely cracked 25 seconds on quite a fast surface and the lead time was close enough to 24 seconds for the next 400m. Not exactly hurtling along.
In fact, had the 1,600m Class Four, run an hour earlier, been staged side by side with Group Two, it would have been Heart Wood & Co in front by more than five lengths at the 800m, still in the lead entering the straight then being gobbled up as the big names ran away to beat Hit A Home Run by only six lengths.
So when Caspar Fownes, Tony Millard and, no doubt John Size, were delighted to see Military Attack, Ambitious Dragon and Endowing perform beyond expectations at their comebacks to racing, it shouldn't come as a surprise.
The Sha Tin Trophy was a coast to the 800-metre mark, then a dash home that didn't challenge their fitness. It might have even turned their weakness to a strength, since fresh horses have more short-course run in their legs.
A great race, yes, but not a defining contest that will be the blueprint when they meet nearly three weeks hence in the international trials.
As disappointed as Designs On Rome fans might have been, it was hardly a dagger to the heart of his Hong Kong Cup campaign.
Sure, he could have done better - some other run-on horses did, also unsuited - but it wasn't terminal.
With the freshness off him after having had a race already, the last thing Designs On Rome needed was 49 seconds for the first half mile, then 45.5 seconds for the run home.
Magic Man's followers unswayed by losing bets
No one has ever been in any doubt about the ability of the top jockeys to attract a public betting following and do their bit for the turnover god, with more than HK$55 million in win bets alone going south when Joao Moreira failed to ride a winner at Sha Tin on Sunday.
The Magic Man’s mounts accounted for 19.2 per cent of win bets for the entire meeting, and, if you extrapolate that to a similar exposure throughout all pools on the day, Moreira mounts carried bets worth some HK$266 million. Now that’s a following.
And it isn’t only Joao – Zac Purton’s day carried a tick over HK$197 million in bets as well, although they emerged with a much better ending, with the win bettors well ahead on just the last two winners, Military Attack and Packing Llaregyb.
Which brings us to the point. Somewhere, we hear, there is someone or some group, doing the old martingale thing with Moreira’s mounts. That is, every ride for the Magic Man is a bet, and everyone that loses sees a doubling of the bet for the next one. Yes, it sounds unlikely but, you know, people do funnier things than YouTube pandas when it comes to betting.
And maybe they aren’t the only ones as it has been noticeable that Moreira’s mounts do seem to get shorter and shorter even in a losing run – not that his losing runs are up to much when he’s winning nearly one in four rides.
Even though Purton had already ridden four winners, there seemed little roll-up impact on the odds of his last two rides on Sunday and Moreira had been winless yet Berlini and Khaya came up shorter.
There’s a story, perhaps true, perhaps not – we weren’t there for this one – connected with the invention of chess. When the inventor showed it on the 64-square board to a king, the king liked it so much he asked the guy to name his reward.
The inventor asked for a grain of rice for the first square of the board, two for the second square, four for the third and so on, doubling for each additional square. The king happily agreed, apparently thinking it was a cheap deal.
We’ve read a couple of ways this story ended. In one, the inventor becomes the ruler of the land after doubling the grain of rice 64 times handed him everything in the kingdom, lock, stock and barrel. That’s probably the children’s version. Aspirational.
In another, the penny finally drops with the mathematically challenged king. He keeps the kingdom and has the inventor of the game beheaded for being such a cheeky so and so. We’re thinking solution two is the real world favourite.
Point is, the old martingale can run into some money very quickly, but it is great for Jockey Club turnover.
Just wondering what the next bet must be by now, though, as the Magic Man has racked up 13 beaten rides straight and that’s still eight short of his “best” losing streak here.
