Happy Lucky Dragon Win | Redoute's Choice may be 'Thewizardofoz' but he is hardly a Hong Kong hero

Welcome to Hong Kong racing, where the world of thoroughbred breeding and pedigree analysis gets tipped upside down and the long-held local tradition of copycat culture seems to flourish in its place.

Out to buck one of the most astonishing trends of the east Asian pedigree puzzle is unbeaten Thewizardofoz – a son of record-breaking Australian sire Redoute’s Choice, whose sons have failed on Hong Kong racetracks to live up to the high benchmark set by their father in his homeland.

Of course, Hong Kong doesn’t have a breeding industry – nor does mainland China to any great extent – and the only real qualifiers for a spot in a Sha Tin stable are, ‘Can it gallop?’, ‘Has it qualified?’ and ‘Will it pass the vet check?’

And, even then, there’s no surefire recipe for success, as plenty of imports seem to lose lengths and pounds of body weight upon arrival.

That doesn’t stop owners and trainers forming black-and-white lists of stallions that “work” and those that don’t, and until now the mighty Redoute’s – a three-time champion sire of Australia and producer of 27 individual Group One winners – has been put in the “not suited to Hong Kong” basket.

Is that fair? Maybe not.