Much as it was with Divine Calling at his second race start here, the question in today's HK$8 million Hong Kong Classic Mile is not so much about whether Divine Calling is the right favourite but what odds you want to take to take to see if he wins, reports HK Racing Post (www.racing.scmp.com)
The Tony Millard-trained Divine Calling (Joao Moreira) will be a deserved short-priced favourite for all the pluses on his side of the ledger.
He already has confirmed Group One form in Australia as a three-year-old when a touch unlucky in the Caulfield Guineas, Divine Calling did more winning his Class Two debut in a hand canter than any other runner in this race has done yet and even his defeat is a recommendation since it was in Class One company.
Divine Calling drops slightly in weight today despite dropping back to what is essentially a Class Two race, and is the best handicapped runner under the terms of the Classic Mile however you slice it.
Yet punters may be nervous about the short odds on offer after the grey did appear to have his chance to win last time when he was also expected to do so over this trip.
Did that defeat show a chink in his armour at 1,600m and if so, will that aspect of his make up even be tested today? The Classic Mile is traditionally a slowly run race, with horses preparing to run longer distances on their way to the Derby and most of them ridden quietly to keep them settled and relaxed and then hitting the line.
That has led to many a jog-trot in the past and allowed wins by horses seen at their best as short course sprinters, like Charming City, Scintillation and Lucky Nine.
And the personnel in today's renewal don't offer much prospect of anything truly run, with whoever does lead probably pretty reluctant about it and a stop-start affair offers the prospect for all runners to find traffic trouble.
There are no obvious leaders, perhaps Arpinati (Umberto Rispoli), Thunder Fantasy and Flying Moochi possible forward runners, since Millard has expressed a wish for Divine Calling to have cover and most likely Giant Treasure (Douglas Whyte) will be somewhere with him trailing the speed and covered up, too, rather than taking the race by force.
The Richard Gibson-trained grey looks a logical danger. Hugely impressive in winning on his local debut in Class Three, notwithstanding the interference to the market leaders in the race, he was hostage to a slow pace from an outside draw when beaten himself at odds-on last time.
Giant Treasure gives the impression he will be keen if pushed early but he should land closer without even trying today, just by virtue of a lower draw.