Able Friend may have left potential overseas rivals for international day reconsidering travel plans as the 1,300-pound beast monstered his opposition in the Group Two Jockey Club Mile with a show stopping performance at Sha Tin yesterday.

The scary part is that the still-underdone chestnut can only get better heading towards the Hong Kong Mile after one of the most dominant and effortless big race victories in recent memory.

"There doesn't have to much improvement," beaming jockey Joao Moreira told the assembled press post-race after Able Friend, with ears pricked and eased down at the finish, cruised to a two and a quarter length victory over multiple Group One winners Gold-Fun and Ambitious Dragon.

"He was going so well - we want him to feel good, so I saw no point in knocking him around and left him feeling full of himself," Moreira said after the armchair ride. "Riding horses like that makes our job easy."

After returning from a stellar four-year-old campaign in which only stablemate Designs On Rome stood between him and Horse of the Year honours, Able Friend suffered a setback early this preparation.

The son of Shamardal resumed over 1,200m but top weight and a lack of match fitness saw him peak on his run and finish unplaced. Able Friend stripped slightly fitter for his second-up assault, his body weight down from 1,315 to 1,301 pounds, and trainer John Moore admitted that he might have been wrong to suggest his horse would be lacking fitness this time given what transpired.

"I don't think I have to do much more with him in the next three weeks," Moore said. "I will keep him at this level. He will come back at the same weight next start, he has just matured a bit more now and he is just a more robust horse. If he dropped another 10 or 15 pounds that would be a perfect body weight."

Moreira was able to put the odds-on favourite in a prominent position one off the fence, and once given clear galloping room upon straightening, Able Friend unleashed his trademark turn of foot - off a slow speed, too - and left his rivals gasping.

Gold-Fun's trainer Richard Gibson wasn't offering any excuses after another excellent effort, in which he was forced to give the field five pounds, but Ambitious Dragon's handler Tony Millard made the case that his horse would have finished closer if given more clear space.

From barrier three jockey Gerald Mosse found himself three horses back on the fence and racing in restricted room around the bend.

"My instruction was that I wanted Gerald one off the rail, but he was stuck for a run," Millard said.

"There wasn't enough pace either," Mosse later added. "But from the inside draw, I never got a chance to come out."

All things considered, Millard was pleased with the run of his two-time Horse of the Year, who was second up for more than 18 months and should be another to improve into December 14.

"He ran home very nicely, and he seems to have pulled up very well so we can't ask for more than that," Millard said. "He has run a good closing sectional, 21.79s for the final 400m."