The six race simulcast programme from Royal Ascot on Tuesday has something for every racing fan. And what a start to proceedings at Britain's most famous race meeting as Able Friend moves outside his Sha Tin habitat to take on Europe's 1600m champions in the G1 Queen Anne Stakes up the Ascot straight.
Whilst there are a clutch of fascinating contenders it is Solow, who is widely believed to possess the most intimidating European credentials to tackle Able Friend, and to add to the plot he and his trainer Freddie Head have plenty in common with the Hong Kong's superstar and his trainer John Moore.
Both Able Friend and Solow are five-year-old geldings who have won their last six starts in great style whilst the respective trainers have known each other for over half a century.
In fact the extensive racing connections between the two families go back further and history reveals that Moore's father George rode Saint Crespin to win the 1959 Prix de L'Arc de Triomphe with the winning trainer's of Europe's greatest race being Head's father Alec.
However at around 9.30pm on Tuesday old family friendships will, of course, be replaced by intense competition and 67-year-old Head reckons it is a competition that he can win, believing that the cards are stacked more in favour of his grey galloper. However the former French champion jockey confirms that the Solow story has been anything but straightforward, confusing even.
"It is crazy how Solow has turned out. His family raced over at least 2400m so we naturally looked to those distances but sometimes you just have to ignore what the pedigree tells you," says Head who freely admits that this super horse was racing over the wrong distance earlier in his career.
The younger Solow had also seemed to hate travelling - even from his own stable yard - so it is extraordinary that his greatest performance came when he crossed continents for that sensational victory in the G1 Dubai Turf over just 1800m. One can see why Head believes that Solow is an equine character that sometimes just doesn't conform to the normal rules.
The Chantilly maestro reckons that it is Ascot's straight track which is the strongest card for Solow, Maxim Guyon's big-race ride : "My horse has won over a straight 1600m course (at Deauville) and I think he is made for Ascot.
"For Able Friend to run up the Ascot straight will be very different experience from Sha Tin and it tends to suit a different type of horse. It is very brave of John to bring him over."
Win, lose or draw it is going to be a memorable encounter especially with the likes of Classic winner Night Of Thunder joining in. Already proven on this track, he gained another G1 victory last time in Newbury's G1 Lockinge Stakes and comes from a stable with a formidable record in this event.
The other G1 events on the card are the King's Stand Stakes, a leg of the Global Sprint Challenge and always a great spectacle over the 1000m, and the St James's Palace Stakes over the round 1600m where the three-year-old stars will be in action.
Here, the Aidan O'Brien trained Gleneagles, super winner of both the English and Irish 2000 Guineas (G1), will take on the Andre Fabre-trained Make Believe who dominated the G1 French 2000 Guineas almost from the start. That looks like another memorable encounter.
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