The Chinese New Year Cup may not hold any Group status but the race has an honour roll that suggests such a tag would sit easily on it and Thewizardofoz should bounce back to top form to give John Size his fifth victory in the event at Sha Tin today, reports Alan Aitken in the HK Racing Post.
The Cup's list of winners features Group One stars, before and after the fact, with names like Figures, Joyful Winner and Good Ba Ba in its record and Size has won the race in the past with Century Star, Super Kid, Glorious Days and Real Specialist, two of which were Group One winners.
Thewizardofoz (Joao Moreira) looked a likely Group One winner going into the Classic Mile but it appeared he did not stay the 1,600m after he was jogging in the run to the home turn. He is a horse who travels quite strongly in races and might just be better at shorter trips at the moment so, when time came to go, there was nothing there.
It wasn't his first defeat but it was the first time he has looked genuinely disappointing and the gelding is suddenly at the crossroads - if stamina wasn't the problem then life is not going to be easy after getting past triple figures in the ratings quite quickly.
Today's race, back to 1,400m where he was an easy Class Two winner before the Classic Mile, presents him with the ideal scenario to get his reputation polished up again.
Secret Sham looks the leader, as he often is over 1,400m, and Moreira should be able to plant Thewizardofoz straight in behind the lead from barrier three for a soft trip.
From there we will see whether the horse we expected in the Classic Mile turns up, whether Thewiz might have reached his level already or if he is purely a short course sprinter - his final sectional even in that Class Two win wasn't flashy but that was explained by his being eased down late.
The way this looks like being run will take a few run on types out of the equation and the danger to Thewizardofoz might come from Caspar Fownes-trained I'm In Charge(Vincent Ho Chak-yiu) after a career best in the Centenary Sprint Cup, finishing into sixth.
His low draw should allow him to simply land three back on the rail without having to do much to be there and he is a horse who responds best when not bustled.
The gap in his form is the distance but a number of disappointments over 1,400m have come when I'm In Charge has had to work early.
The other horse not to be taken lightly is course specialist and past winner of the raceSuper Lifeline (Silvestre de Sousa), who hasn't won for two years but gets a race run to suit.