When South Africa's Variety Club won last year's Champions Mile he not only dispelled the myth that it was impossible to beat the local milers on Hong Kong soil but he also triumphed in a race that was one of the world's highest rating 1600 metres races in 2014. And in sweeping to that emphatic victory, South Africa’s two-time Horse of the Year ranked as the co-third best horse in the world in 2014.
Variety Club was retired to stud without gracing the turf again but the placegetters certainly franked the form. The runner-up Able Friend, unbeaten in his last four runs at 1600m and 1400m, is now the world's highest rated 'miler' while third placed Dan Excel went on and won the G1 Singapore Airlines International Cup (2000m) at his next start.
Further astern in the 2014 Champions Mile were subsequent HKG1 winners Gold-Fun and Blazing Speed, and beaten visitors suffered no burnout with Mshawish returning to the USA to win at G1 level while Gordon Lord Byron (GB) and Meiner Lacrima (JPN) went home to claim G2 prizes.
While there is no doubting the depth and quality of Hong Kong's 1600m performers, Variety Club did show - in no uncertain terms with a four lengths win - that it was not “mission impossible” to venture to Sha Tin to take on the locals at what they do best.
Considering that emphatic performance, along with the fact that the visitors Musir (2011) and Dao Dao (2009) were close up in tight three-way finishes to previous editions of the Champions Mile, it is clear that the task - while certainly difficult - is not insurmountable.
That is reflected in a healthy 26 overseas entries for the 2015 edition of the Champions Mile and that list has no fewer than six overseas Group 1 winners including Japan's Real Impact, recent winner of the G1 George Ryder Stakes in Australia, who could become his country's third Hong Kong feature mile winner after Eishin Preston and Hat Trick's success in the 2001 and 2005 G1 Hong Kong Mile.
Japan boasts ten nominations for the race, which include World Ace who finished a brave fourth, immediately behind compatriot Grand Prix Boss, in the 2014 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile won by Able Friend.
In all, entries have been received from seven different countries and while a strong local force headed by Able Friend will take some beating - we know, after last year, that it is no longer fait accompli that the spoils will stay at home.
The selected runners for the Champions Mile will be announced on Wednesday, 15 April.
