It is like the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future are lining up in Hong Kong’s international races at Sha Tin on Sunday morning.
Among the four Group 1 races lie previous Dubai World Cup night winners, a reigning title holder in Al Quoz Sprint winner Sole Power and a smattering of horses who could well grace Meydan Racecourse for the first time in March.
It is three years and nine months since Cirrus Des Aigles scored in the Dubai Sheema Classic and a year later it was Helene Super Star who won the UAE Derby. Both horses face a stern test in the Vase, where defending champion and Dubai Sheema Classic runner-up Flintshire lies in wait.
As a sign of what may come, Vase rivals Dariyan and Ming Dynasty bid to become just the sixth horse aged three to win an international race in the Special Administrative Region since the event was first run in 1988.
Dariyan looks a colt of huge promise having chased home French Derby winner and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe third New Bay at Deauville in August.
Trainer Alain de Royer Dupre knows the route to Dubai, having won the Dubai Sheema Classic with Dolniya this year, but it is his compatriot Mikel Delzangles who is dreaming of success on the world’s most valuable card.
Ming Dynasty has shown at morning track work this week that the lighty-raced son of English Guineas winner King’s Best is maturing mentally. Whether it is enough for the white heat of international racing on his first start abroad is another matter entirely.
Whatever Ming Dynasty achieves in the 2,400-metre contest is likely to stand him in good stead for his proposed trip to the UAE in three months.
“He is just so relaxed here, which is amazing as he can be a bit crazy at times, and hopefully that’s a good sign,” Delzangles said.
“It will be good experience for him, and he will be a nice four year old, maybe for Dubai next year.”
Joining Ming Dynasty on the plane to the UAE is likely to be the British pair of Mondialiste and Godolphin’s Toormore, who do battle with local favourite Able Friend in the Mile.
The assignment looks a tall order for them.
Able Friend showed that his failed trip to Royal Ascot in June was simply a blip when he put up a huge performance giving away weight to win a Group 2 sprint handicap in October.
The “Beast From The East” then ran below par, but again giving weight, back over 1,600m last time out. He finished the final few hundred metres very quickly, which suggests he is in better form that many give him credit for.
The Mile is an acid test for Mondialiste, whose rapid ascent to global player must surely grate with trainer Freddy Head, who parted with him for €190,000 (Dh767,000) last July.
“These races around the bend seem to suit him,” trainer David O’Meara said of his Woodbine Mile winner.
“At the moment he’s been running well over a mile, but there is every chance we will step him up in trip in due course. He’s bred to stay farther.
“Depending on how this goes, he could go to the Dubai Turf.”
sports@thenational.ae
Follow us on twitter at @NatSportUAE
