On Wednesday night, as a post-script to a post-race interview at Launceston, trainer Adam Trinder confirmed that the champion mare, a winner of seven stakes races, including a G1 Australian Guineas, as well as the inaugural running of the All-Star Mile, was retired from racing and would be prepared for a career as a broodmare.

In a fascinating coincidence, connections of Still A Star (Toronado {Ire}) also confirmed that their mare, who followed in Mystic Journey's footsteps as a Tasmanian trailblazer, had likely run her last race and would be prepared for sale in 2022.

Both mares were stars in their own right, with Still A Star also victorious seven times at stakes level, including a victory over Mystic Journey (third) in the G2 Rose Of Kingston S. at Flemington in October.

However, it was Mystic Journey who would hold the edge in their three-race rivalry across the spring, edging Still A Star out when second to her third in the G2 Let's Elope S. and then finishing second in the G1 Empire Rose S., where Still A Star ran 12th.

Trinder admitted that he would have loved for Mystic Journey to have gone out on a Group 1 win, only to be denied by Colette (Hallowed Crown) in the Flemington feature, but said it took nothing away from her remarkable career.

"She has well and truly done enough. She doesn't owe us anything. We owe her everything and while she raced so well, unfortunately she finished second in her last race in a Group 1 and if she had have won that, I definitely would have retired her straight after the race," he said.

"I don’t think she needs to go out a winner. She's got nothing but admiration from us and admiration from the public. We don’t expect any more from her.

"She's letting down lovely. She has been taken off her race feed on to the broodmare feed and is really letting down."

A remarkable Journey

What Mystic Journey was able to achieve in her 28-start career, was not just win 12 races, and earn nearly $4.2 million in prizemoney, but also propel jockey Anthony Darmanin, trainer Trinder and her sire, Needs Further, to prominence that they could have not dreamt of.

Bred by Ralph Zito and partners, she went through the draft of Armidale Stud at the 2017 Magic Millions Tasmanian Yearling Sale, from the second crop of Needs Further, selling to Trinder on behalf of owner Wayne Roser for $11,000. A rich dark brown or black filly, she would be given the stable name 'Betty'.

While there were no stakes winners at that stage in the previous three generations of her dam side of her family, her fourth dam, L'Anno D'Oro (Ire) (Habitat {USA}) was a sister to multiple Group 1-winning sprinter Habibti (Ire) and a half-sister to blue hen mare Eight Carat (GB) (Pieces Of Eight {Ire}). That star mare was already present on the pedigree through her dam, White Gold (NZ), who was by Eight Carat's son Colombia (NZ). Another blue hen, Lady Giselle (Fr) (Nureyev {USA}), features twice in her pedigree as the dam of Zabeel (NZ) and Needs Further's dam, Significant Moment (Bletchingly).

It was something very much on Zito's mind when he purchased White Gold's dam, L'Anello (NZ) (Groom Dancer {USA}) as a weanling.

"We thought she'd never race because she had one bad leg but with those bloodlines, I knew she would do well as a broodmare," Zito told TDN AusNZ in 2019.

"Her second dam, L'Anno D'Oro, was the dam of Lacryma Cristi, and I thought even if she never races, we’ll do an Eight Carat linebred, which is what we did with White Gold."

A winner of her first three starts, including a Listed Elwick S., Mystic Journey's major breakthrough came early in her 3-year-old season when she won the Listed Jim Moloney S. at Caulfield.

Five weeks later she sat three deep throughout in the G2 Moonee Valley Fillies' Classic and thrashed a field which contained Group 1 winners El Dorado Dreaming (Ilovethiscity), Krone (Eurozone) as well as multiple Group 1 placegetter Fundamentalist (Not A Single Doubt).

She returned in the later summer early autumn and disposed of Tasmania's best-credentialed weight for-age horses before tacking the G1 Australian Guineas.

A Flemington fiesta

On a 40-degree day at Flemington, she became the first Tasmanian-trained winner of a Group 1 (or equivalent race) for over a century, defeating Hawkshot (Fiorente {Ire}) and Amphitrite (Sebring), who had won the G1 Thousand Guineas the previous spring.

Two weeks later, she fronted up at Flemington again in the inaugural edition in the All-Star Mile, earning her position in the $5 million race through a wildcard invitation. She was again dominant, defeating Group 1-winning Godolphin pair Hartnell (GB) (Authorized {Ire}) and Alizee (Sepoy).

With the retirement of superstar mare Winx (Street Cry {Ire}) the following month, the Australian racing public was looking for a next star to attach themselves to. The Tassie filly with the battler backstory fitted the bill, but they were impossible shoes to fill.

She began the spring as favourite for the G1 Cox Plate and won the G2 PB Lawrence S. at Caulfield before having her colours lowered by $101 shot Gatting (Hard Spun {USA}) in the G1 Makybe Diva S.

The impossible expectations were beginning to take their toll, in particularly on Trinder, who was wearing much of the scrutiny, and social media abuse, after her shock defeat in that race. She then finished fifth in the G1 Turnbull S. and the pressure grew further.

But Trinder, Roser and the team were determined to push on to the G1 Cox Plate, especially given the way she has won on the same track 12 months earlier. In a competitive race, she loomed briefly at the top of the straight, but the brilliant Japanese mare Lys Gracieux (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) left her in her wake.

Mystic Journey would finish a very creditable fourth, beaten 4l, but from that day, the public expectation of her changed.

She was given an easy time of it by Trinder through the autumn of 2020, with just one start and in the spring would bounce back with an impressive win in the G2 Stocks S. at Moonee Valley. Kept fresh, she was well-supported to win the G1 Empire Rose S. and would finish seventh, beaten less than 2l in a blanket finish.

Her autumn of 2021 didn't live up to the mark and she was beaten at short prices in two Tasmanian races before finishing fifth in the G2 Blamey S. as her connections looked to win their way back into the All-Star Mile.

There were suggestions she would be retired at that point, but she was prepared for one more farewell spring tour, featuring three top-class Flemington mares races.

She didn't win any of those, but was placed in all three, emphasising both her class and durability.

The Mystic effect

For Trinder, who has been one of Tasmania's best trainers for some time, she was the horse of a lifetime, one which put him under more pressure than he would have ever expected from his base at Spreyton. However, he handled that pressure with grace and managed her brilliantly throughout.

But Mystic Journey also lifted an entire state's thoroughbred industry, including the Whishaw family's Armidale Stud, the largest breeding operation in Tasmania.

In 2019, the aftermath of Mystic Journey's Guineas and All-Star triumphs, Needs Further served 103 mares at Armidale, numbers usually unheard of for a Tasmanian stallion. In 2020, the stallion earned a ticket to the mainland, standing at Aquis in Victoria in 2020, and while that didn't work out as planned, the producer of five stakes winners is now back in Tasmania, still attracting broodmare owners looking for the next Mystic Journey.

Armidale Stud was able to use that momentum to bolster its other stallions, notably Alpine Eagle, who served a Tasmanian record 138 mares in 2020.

A Star in her own right

Still A Star was also a trailblazer for her sire, Swettenham Stud's Toronado (Ire), as his first Australian stakes winner. Further stars have followed, including Group 1 winner Masked Crusader, but she set down a marker for the son of High Chaparral (Ire), with a quartet of Tasmanian stakes wins in the summer of 2020, culminating in the Listed Tasmanian Oaks.

She was picked out for just $13,000 at the 2018 Magic Millions Tasmanian Sale, sold by her breeders at Alva Stud, based at Hagley, not far from Armidale Stud in the picturesque Meander Valley.

The Toronado filly was immediately tagged 'Minnie' by Monica Ryan and her trainer father Bill, as, at that stage, she looked like more a weanling than a yearling.

Like Trinder with Mystic Journey, Bill Ryan would also become a crucial part of the Still A Star story. Ryan had waited a long-time for a horse of her ability, and now, battling a terminal lung condition, he now had a champion on his hands.

From his base at Longford in Northern Tasmania, he masterminded, together with his daughter, Still A Star's returned to racing, after she, in an eerie coincidence, also suffered a critical lung issue following those four stakes wins.

The Ryans targetted this year's All-Star Mile. She had won the public vote to get her into the race and off the back of one run in 12 months, a win in the G3 Vamos S., she headed to the $5 million feature as a massive sentimental favourite.

A wet track would be her undoing that day, and she finished 13th, but she proved she was far from a spent force when winning a Listed race at Caulfield in April. She then proved her status among the leading mares in the country with her win in the G2 Rose Of Kingston this spring.

Her exact racing future is not yet known, but part-owner Ron Riley told RSN on Wednesday, that she would be sold.

"She's been in the paddock since she has had her last run. She came back from Melbourne a bit worse for wear. But she has picked up really quickly and she is now bucking her brands off," he said.

"But we have decided as a group that we will most likely put her on the market to sell her."

As mares who achieved so much, not only for their connections, but for the Tasmanian thoroughbred industry, it seems slightly unfair that on their likely retirement, that 'Betty' and 'Minnie' don’t get the clear air to have the spotlight in their own right.

But in another way, it seems a totally appropriate way to jointly recognise what Mystic Journey and Still A Star have achieved, both in their own right, and in combination, to highlight the virtues of breeding and racing in the island state.

For a long time in the racing and breeding game, the conversation about education and recruitment has been ongoing. It’s one of the urgent issues within the modern sport, particularly the crises around entry-level staff at racing stables and across breeding farms.

In recent years, plenty of workshops and conferences have tackled the issue, hoping to get an edge on how best to bring people into the industry and how to keep them, but also how best to educate them.

Surprisingly, there are very few initiatives in place in Australia that result in formal, industry-recognised qualifications. There are equine science degrees at a tertiary level and agricultural certificates through TAFE, while Lindy Maurice’s Thoroughbred Industry Careers (TIC) champions recruitment across the industry.

But the flagship program across much of world racing remains, after 18 years, the Godolphin Flying Start course.

The genesis of Flying Start

Godolphin Flying Start was the brainchild of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and founder of the Godolphin operation. In 2003, he recognised the need for industry leadership and, specifically, a program that could coach young people into those positions of leadership.

The Flying Start course would welcome 12 trainees each year across a two-year curriculum, with the first class opened to applications in 2003. The course would weave its way geographically through the racing and breeding industries of England, Ireland, the United States (US), Dubai and Australia, and the physical placements around the world would coincide with classroom learning.

Almost every whim and need of each trainee would be catered for, including a scholarship that covered course fees, accommodation, transport, health insurance and allowance, and all with the specific purpose of training and developing students into senior management careers within the thoroughbred industry.

In that first year, the program received just under 100 applications from around the world, filtering them down to the inaugural 12.

“The Flying Start program was set up to solve a wider industry challenge around leadership as a whole,” said Clodagh Kavanagh, who has been the Irish-based Executive Director of Godolphin Flying Start since its inception in 2003.

“When this program started, it was evident that this industry was going to need plenty of strong leadership and talent to keep up with how quickly the world was changing, and Sheikh Mohammed saw that happening through getting the best talent from around the world and giving them a great education, great training and a network, and then putting them back out in the industry.”

Sheikh Mohammed’s motivation wasn’t to internally recruit for Godolphin. His vision was more far-sighted than that, and Kavanagh said that less than one graduate each year has moved into the Godolphin operation since 2003.

This makes the financial commitment by Sheikh Mohammed a significant gesture because, on average, the program costs £1 million (AU$1.85 million) each year to run.

Graduate success

With a graduating class each year, the two-year Godolphin Flying Start scholarship has graduated 201 students to date.

They’ve currently based in Australia (39), the US (61), the United Kingdom (40), Ireland (24), South Africa (2), France (15) and New Zealand (2), plus Japan (2), Singapore (3), India (1), Dubai (2) and others.

In total, the course’s trainees have matriculated into 20 different racing nations.

“Of those 201 graduates, 89 per cent are retained within the thoroughbred industry,” Kavanagh said. “That’s one of the things we recruit for, evidence of long-term commitment to the industry because they’re very precious scholarships. We want to make sure that our trainees are achieving the vision of the program, which is to produce committed thoroughbred leaders.”

So far, the course is widely nailing its brief. Kavanagh said that of that 89 per cent, exactly half of the graduates are in the industry as either business founders or senior management.

“The vision is to provide industry leaders, and it’s a big vision, a big ask,” Kavanagh said. “I think everyone who has done the course has leadership potential and heaps of talent, but it’s a matter of what they want to do with that talent and the education they get from the program.

“Some of our graduates are more understated and quiet leaders who are satisfied with a low-key position within a smaller organisation or being self-employed, while others out there are very evident, either at the top of a corporation or running a fast-paced business, like the Henry Fields of Newgate or the Adrian Botts at Randwick.”

Field of dreams

Henry Field is among the 39 Australia-based graduates of the Flying Start program, and he’s in good company.

Craig Rounsefell is there, as are fellow bloodstock agents Andrew Williams, James Clarke and Stephen O’Connor. Trainers Adrian Bott, Will Freedman and Liam Howley went through the course, as did Magic Millions’ Dane Robinson and Arrowfield’s Anna Power.

Gallery: Some of the esteemed Godolphin Flying Start graduates

TDN AusNZ’s owners Gary King and Vicky Leonard graduated from the program a year apart, in 2010 and 2011. Flying Start graduates are at Newgate Farm, Coolmore, Twin Hills Stud and Annabel Neasham Racing.

It’s a list of high achievers that demonstrates the effectiveness of the program since its earliest days.

“I was part of the inaugural graduating class, the very first year of the course,” Henry Field said. “We were the guinea pigs and it was a fantastic experience for all of us, but especially for me because I was so young.”

Field was just 18 when he applied for a place in Flying Start, and he is one of the only candidates to be admitted without a tertiary degree. He saw the program advertised in the Monday morning edition of The Australian newspaper, which was long before dedicated online industry-dailies.

“I’d finished school at the time, and I’d given my parents the guarantee that I would go and study tertiary education,” Field said. “In the year that I took off to go and work for Gai Waterhouse, I saw the program advertised and I thought it was the greatest student course I’d ever seen engineered.”

Across two years, Field joined Stuart Boman, Kate Grimwade and Ed Sackville on the Flying Start curriculum, along with nine other trainees. They graduated in 2005, and it remains one of the outstanding experiences of Field’s professional life.

Since then, he has forged a top-shelf career as the managing director of Newgate Farm, and he has quickly become one of the preeminent studmasters in Australian bloodstock.

“I was young and they took a chance on me,” Field said. “I’m very glad that I was able to complete the course and be a good advocate for where it can get you in the industry. Every single moment of every day I spent in it was enjoyable, and it will be an incredible legacy for Sheikh Mohammed.”

Age matters

As an alumni of Godolphin Flying Start, Field has remained connected to the program, but he also recognises it now from the other end – as a recruiter. At Newgate, he had Stephen O’Connor for a time straight out of the program, and he now has Niamh O’Brien, who graduated from the course just this year and took up employment on the farm in September.

Kavanagh said Field remains one of the youngest, if not the youngest, to graduate from the Flying Start program. She said they’ve learned a lot over the years about the ideal age for trainees, and these days the average is between 22 and 29 years old.

“In the last five or 10 years, the typical age of students on the program is 24 or 25,” Kavanagh said. “That mid-twenties age seems to be a great point to do it because they’ve had a couple of years out in the working world and they’re aware of the value of the opportunity. At 19 or 20, they might not be able to appreciate that.”

Field agrees with this.

“I wish I’d had a few more years of experience under my belt, travelling or working in different places before I started the course,” the studmaster said. “But it was too good an opportunity to miss out on, and certainly the group of us in that first year has been quite extraordinary in terms of the achievements of many of the other students.”

Stuart Boman emerged as one of the deftest bloodstock agents through Blandford Bloodstock in the UK, and likewise Ed Sackville, for whom Field mustered all his affection when describing Sackville as the “naughtiest bloke he’d ever met”.

Trainers Michael Dilger in America and Tan Kah Soon in Singapore also emerged from this class, while Kate Grimwade, at one time an assistant trainer to James Cummings, is now the General Manager for Newmarket trainer Roger Varian.

The importance of accreditation

Many things have stayed the same across 18 years of the Godolphin Flying Start program, in particular the two-year structure of the course, the number of intakes each year and the graduate successes. Any changes have been carefully implemented around these.

About a decade ago, the program achieved accreditation from the business school of University College Dublin (UCD), which gives the Flying Start curriculum a fourth-level qualification.

“This is quite important to a lot of people doing the course,” Kavanagh said. “It’s important that it doesn’t just have an industry tag on it, or a Godolphin tag on it. It now has the leading university in Ireland approving it as a Level 9 Graduate Certificate in Management.”

The program also has accreditation with the University of Kentucky, Macquarie University Graduate School of Management here in Australia, the University of Arizona and the Kentucky Horseshoeing School. In the UK, Godolphin Flying Start is recognised as a short-course provider by the British Accreditation Council.

The UCD accreditation provides students with a module in an Irish vet school studying equine physiology and reproduction, plus a module in the UCD business school in entrepreneurship. At Macquarie, there’s a module in management and leadership, and at Kentucky there’s another in equine nutrition.

“UCD collaborates with those other two universities to package those four modules into a Level 9 Graduate Certificate in Management, which is basically a Masters-level qualification but without the bulk of a Masters,” Kavanagh said.

She added that this extra tier of accreditation has maintained the healthy level of interest in Godolphin Flying Start when it comes to applicants.

“Eighteen years ago, a number of our applicants wouldn’t have had degrees, and very few would have had a Masters,” Kavangh said. “Now, most of them have degrees and very many of them are interested in furthering their education as part of their career development, so the type of candidate has changed and we’ve made sure we’ve changed to keep attracting them and fulfilling them with what they need and deserve for the level of program they’re doing.”

Real impacts

After 18 years, Kavanagh’s job satisfaction is still sky high, and she’s proud of what Flying Start has achieved. It’s a peerless international tool within the modern industry.

“When it started, no one knew if it would be successful, and if people would apply and it would keep going,” she said. “So just to exist over 18 years is fantastic, but I’m particularly proud of the graduates.

Gallery: Some of the esteemed Godolphin Flying Start graduates

“When you go to a sale or to a raceday, or any industry event, and you see the number of Flying Starters there operating at all different levels, but particularly at the best level, it’s quite phenomenal that the quality of person and the quality of their training is having an impact on the industry.”

Kavanagh said it was like buying 12 of the best yearlings in the world, that a lot of individual success comes down to personal ambition and genetics. However, Godolphin Flying Start is the world-leading facilitator to industry success right now, and even Sheikh Mohammed is proud of it.

“He makes every effort to meet the trainees when they’re in Dubai, and that shows his continued interest and commitment, and probably his pride in the program as well,” Kavanagh said.

“The vision of Flying Start was always to produce committed industry leaders and we’ve worked hard to make sure it’s still a very useful program for the industry, and to people within the industry.”

The course has a lot more focus on technology, creativity and innovation in these later years, and also on welfare, which Kavanagh said could not be ignored in the sport’s current climate. All of these things come carefully together as the students learn across their two years.

“We don’t want Flying Start to be like a standalone college sitting outside of the industry,” she said. “Flying Start is part of the industry and our students are part of the industry, as is the program.

"We will always try to stay at the cutting edge of the industry, and we will always hope that we can continue to attract the calibre of graduates we’ve had since our very first year.”

Applications for the 2022/2024 intake are now being accepted. If you, or someone you know, could be a suitable candidate for the scholarship, visit the Godolphin Flying Start website.

Cover image courtesy of the Hong Kong Jockey Club

Amazing Star has won seven races for trainer Jimmy Ting, including a monumental upset in the G2 Sprint Cup back in April. On Sunday, over the same track and distance, he takes on Hong Kong's top sprinters, plus a star trio of Japanese raiders.

For Graham Bax, who owns Blandford Lodge, a win, or even a big performance, would be much more than just a feather in the cap as Amazing Star's breeder, it would also supercharge interest in his half-brother by Harry Angel (Ire), who will be offered by Valiant Stud at next month's Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.

He describes the yearling colt from the first crop of the Darley shuttle stallion as a real star, as good a looking a horse as he has bred over the years. Any sense that Bax might be guilty of having a 'breeder's bias' can be dismissed when he recalls his impressions of Amazing Star as a young horse.

"He was quite a plain horse. He wasn't a standout, that's for real," he told TDN AusNZ.

"He only made NZ$30,000 through the Karaka Sale in Book 2. Maybe at that stage, Darci Brahma wasn't setting the world on fire. There was nothing wrong with him, he was a tidy type, but he certainly wasn't a star or a standout. Just a plain, bay horse."

Bax has watched on closely as Amazing Star has continued to improve with every season. Elevating himself to the company of the best Hong Kong sprinters, he finished ninth, beaten 5l by Danon Smash (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}), in last year's Hong Kong Sprint.

"He's turned out quite fast. He won a few down the straight there and won them easily. He finds it a bit tougher against the big boys, but when Zac Purton used to ride him, he was an impressive winner several times," he said.

"I remember when he won the Group 2 race over there, and he was paying $200. I always a put a little saver on my horses if they are running and thought to myself, 'I can't back a horse at $200' and then he came out and won!

"I'm pleasantly surprised with how he is going. He has got the runs on the board and won a bit of money. Whether he goes any good on Sunday, we will find out."

American dream

Bax purchased Amazing Star's stakes-placed dam, Bright Abyss (USA) (Royal Academy {USA}), out of the United States around a decade ago, looking for a mare to add a bit of 'fresh blood' to his broodmare band. Her dam, Reines Des Neiges (USA) (Smart Strike {USA}) was a half-sister to multiple Grade 1 winner and Champion 3-Year-Old Colt in USA in 1986, Snow Chief (USA).

"I bought her through an agent over there. I only paid about US$30,000 (AU$42,000) for her. She could run a bit. She won nine times on the track. I like to try to get horses that can run a bit and I thought I’d give her a try," he said.

Bright Abyss' first colt by Savabeel never got to the track, and her second colt, to be named Cheerfuljet (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}), would win four races in Hong Kong for Caspar Fownes.

That paved the way for Amazing Star's progress to Asia, having been privately sold following a Foxton trial win for Sam Lennox, who had purchased him as a yearling. He then joined the Chris So yard before transferring to Ting's stable after his first season in Hong Kong.

A third member of that family, Ballistic Man (NZ) (Turn Me Loose {NZ}) has also ended up in Hong Kong, having been sold by Bax for $80,000 through Valiant Stud at the Inglis Classic Sale last year. He had a recent trial for Ting and is approaching his debut.

Gold Coast Angel

Bax is hopeful that the strong connection with Hong Kong buyers can pay dividends when the Harry Angel half-brother goes through the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale next month as Lot 825.

The breeder was looking for a well-credentialled speedy sire to send Bright Abyss to in 2019 and landed on Darley's July Cup-winning freshman.

"He was a fast horse, Harry Angel. He had a good rating. I always send a few horses to Darley. They have always looked after me well and so I thought I would give him a try and keep the speed in the family," he said.

"The colt is a star on looks. He's a real proper horse, I'm hoping that the Hong Kong buyers will like the Harry Angel side and be quite keen to bid on him."

Bright Abyss produced a filly by another Darley shuttle stallion, Street Boss (USA), this spring, who has already left her impression.

"She's lovely. I'm very happy with her. She can throw a nice horse that mare," Bax said.

With the family on the up, Bax decided on a rising New Zealand-based stallion for his next mating for Bright Abyss.

"She is now in foal to Almanzor," he said.

"We are hanging our hats on him (Almanzor) over here in New Zealand. He's a nice horse himself, a really good racehorse. He has got good stock and has been so well mated-up. He's got a big chance I think."

Heartened by his success with an American-bred mare, Bax has been back to buy a few since Bright Abyss, including the private purchase of stakes winner Advert (USA) (Lonhro), who has been mated to Savabeel.

"She cost me a bit, but she is from a really nice family and she was another one with a bit of race speed," he said.

Cover image courtesy of the Hong Kong Jockey Club

Additionally, a handful of other HKIR participants would please certain sectors of the Australian Thoroughbred industry were a positive result to occur on an afternoon where HK$100 million (AU$17.87 million) is on offer.

G1 Longines Hong Kong Cup, HK$30 million, 3yo/up, 2000m

You have to go back 16 years to Vengeance Of Rain (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}) to find the most recent Australasian winner of the day's richest event, and while Tourbillon Diamond (Olympic Glory {Ire}) is unlikely to snap that streak this weekend, he certainly has earned the right to compete in a race of this magnitude.

The proverbial horse that has punched well above his weight, the $7000 Magic Millions Gold Coast National Yearling Sale grad won four of 14 and was third behind Quick Thinker (So You Think {NZ}) in the 2020 G1 Australian Derby for trainer Stuart Kendrick before heading north as a Hong Kong Derby prospect.

A troubled third in the Hong Kong Classic Mile and seventh, but beaten just 2.5l in the Derby, the bay has been competitive in the early season group handicaps at Sha Tin, including a short-head success, albeit with no weight on his back, in the G3 Sa Sa Ladies' Purse H. on November 7.

The Cup appears to go through the Japanese pair of G1 FWD QE II Cup and G1 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf winner Loves Only You (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Lei Papale (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), undefeated at 2000 metres.

G1 Longines Hong Kong Mile, HK$26 million, 3yo/up, 1600m

For a second consecutive year, Golden Sixty (Medaglia D'Oro {USA}) is the marquee horse for the International Races meeting. His accomplishments to date scarcely require rehashing, as he looks to become a dual winner of the Mile, having defeated the now-retired Southern Legend (Not A Single Doubt) 12 months back.

A victory Sunday would make the $120,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast yearling turned NZ$300,000 NZB Ready to Run breezer the winningest horse in Hong Kong history, surpassing the record held by Beauty Generation (NZ) (Road To Rock) and the legendary Silent Witness (El Moxie {USA}) and pull him to within one of the latter's 17-race winning streak. He'll be fit and ready off a first-up score when carrying a five-pound penalty in the G2 Jockey Club Mile on November 21.

Excellent Proposal (Exceed And Excel) caused a 22-1 surprise in last year's Classic Mile before running fourth in the Classic Cup and in the Hong Kong Derby. The winner of three from four for Richard and Michael Freedman in New South Wales pre-export, Excellent Proposal exits an unlucky runner-up effort in the Class 1 Chevalier Cup H. over Sunday's distance.

The $200,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast acquisition is one of three in the race for John Size, who also sends out Lucky Express (Toronado {Ire}), victorious in the Class 1 Panasonic Cup H. (1400 metres) ahead of a sixth in the Chevalier Cup. A $145,000 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling, Lucky Express was two-for-three in Australia for Matt Laurie, including the valuable VOBIS Showdown at Caulfield under his previous moniker, Prince Of Sussex.

Gallery: Some of the Hong Kong Mile runners as yearlings

Reigning Derby hero Sky Darci (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}), a NZ$160,000 purchase out of the New Zealand Bloodstock Premier Yearling Sale in 2018, added the G3 Lion Rock Trophy H. last term, but is winless in three appearances this season, including a fair third behind Golden Sixty in the Jockey Club Mile.

Japan's Danon Kingly (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), who defeated Gran Alegria (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in the G1 Yasuda Kinen earlier this season, looks the most dangerous of the foreign raid.

G1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint, HK$24 million, 3yo/up, 1200m

Australian-breds have dominated this event, with 15 victories dating back to 1999. Wellington (All Too Hard) is a winner of seven of his 11 starts locally, having fetched $70,000 at the 2018 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. The 5-year-old sailed through the lower classes last season and capped it off in the G1 Chairman's Sprint Prize in April.

He was seventh to Lucky Patch (NZ) (El Roca) ($40,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast National Sale) in the G2 Jockey Club Sprint on seasonal reappearance on November 17 and should go better Sunday. The latter is the surprise package of the season thus far and rides a two-race winning streak into the main event Sunday, which looks an open test.

Torryburn Stud-bred Hot King Prawn (Denman), a $70,000 Inglis Sydney Classic graduate, makes a fourth straight appearance in the Sprint, having disappointed as the warm favourite in 2018 and again last December sandwiched around a near-miss second to stablemate Beat The Clock (Hinchinbrook) in 2019.

Naboo Attack (Warhead) attacked the line in the Jockey Club Sprint, missing by 0.75l to Lucky Patch after racing with a tongue tie for the first time in his six-race Hong Kong career. The 1366-pounder is the lone HKIR runner for David Hayes, who won the 2002 Sprint with All Thrills Too (St Covet) up the 1000-metre straight course in 2002.

Two of the three entrants in the Sprint from Japan have connections to the Australian industry. Pixie Knight (Jpn), recent winner of the G1 Sprinters' S. at Nakayama, is one of two Group 1 winners from the first crop of Maurice (Jpn) (Screen Hero {Jpn}), winner of the 2015 Mile and the 2016 Cup in his career finale.

The Horse of the Year shuttles to Arrowfield for the Southern Hemisphere breeding season and has been represented by 25 winners from his first Australian crop, most prominently G1 VRC Derby winner Hitotsu.

Defending Sprint winner Danon Smash (Jpn) is a son of Lord Kanaloa (Jpn), who made a splash as the sire of G1 Blue Diamond S. winner and Yulong Stud stallion Tagaloa.

The 6-year-old, who bows out in the Sprint, is out of the winning Spinning Wildcat (USA) (Hard Spun {USA}), whose champion dam Hollywood Wildcat (USA) (Kris S. {USA}), produced Yarradale Stud's War Chant (USA) (Danzig {USA}), sire of 10 Australian stakes winners, including Group 1 winner Silent Sedition.

G1 Longines Hong Kong Vase, HK$20 million, 3yo/up, 2400m

A NZ$33,000 purchase out of the 2017 New Zealand Bloodstock Select Sale, Columbus County (NZ) (Redwood {GB}) (ex Sword In Stone) has won just two of his 19 starts in Hong Kong, but he stretches back out to what is clearly his best distance this weekend.

In three previous tries over the metric 12 furlongs, the 6-year-old was third to the reopposing and likely favourite Mogul (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in last year's Vase and runner-up to Cup hopeful Panfield (Chi) (Lookin At Lucky {USA}) in the G1 Champions & Chater Cup at the tail-end of last season.

Reliable Team (NZ) (Reliable Man {GB}) did not reach his reserve when bidding stalled out at NZ$50,000 at the 2017 New Zealand Bloodstock Select Sale, but blossomed into a NZ$430,000 under-tack purchase at the same auction house's Ready to Run Sale just nine months later.

The grey has become a 'reliable' money spinner locally, with seven wins from 28 runs, but none more valuable than his surprising front-running success in the G2 Jockey Club Cup November 21, two weeks after finishing third behind Tourbillon Diamond in the Sa Sa Ladies' Purse.