Happy Lucky Dragon Win | Five great things about Classic Mile day

A great day of racing on Sunday at Sha Tin gave us plenty to go home with. Here’s the top five things Classic Mile day taught us, or at least reminded us of:

1. Able Friend isn’t Hong Kong racing’s next superstar, he is Hong Kong racing’s superstar…

The future is now for John Moore’s Able Friend. Yesterday’s barnstorming win took the big chestnut to a rating of 115, up from 104, and gave those left in his slipstream little hope for the immediate future.

Going into the Group One Hong Kong Classic Mile Able Friend had the word potential alongside his name, but if he were to jump out of his own age group now and face yesterday’s Stewards’ Cup field – because that’s the company he will be keeping off his new mark – he might even start favourite. This is a horse that has had seven lifetime starts, and he hasn’t been taxed on the training track or tactically – so there is plenty left for the future.

It’s rare to see a horse with such size, power and speed also blessed with such a relaxed attitude. He has an unabashed fan in jockey Joao Moreira and as John Moore said post-race “the sky is the limit”.

2. Hong Kong horses have to race each other…

The virtually closed shop of Hong Kong racing, with its limited race schedule and horse population has many benefits – one of which is that star horses can rarely avoid each other for long.