Stormy Antarctic and Convey fly the British flag at Sha Tin

Preview: Sha Tin, Sunday (9am GMT)
Champions Mile| Group 1 | 1m | 3yo+

Carrying the colours of Hong Kong-based businessmen, Convey and Stormy Atlantic attempt to go where no European challenger for the Champions Mile has gone since the race was opened to international runners in 2005 – the Sha Tin winner’s circle.

Both have impressed in their steady early-morning work since leaving quarantine on Tuesday but they arrive with completely different profiles.

Convey, whose trainer Sir Michael Stoute boasts two winners in Hong Kong but none since Daliapour in the 2000 Vase, started favourite for last year’s Royal Hunt Cup after running Home Of The Brave to a neck at Haydock, but beat just six in a 28-runner field. Subsequently tried in various Group and Listed company, he managed one small win before being culled by Juddmonte at the October sales.

Bought for 130,000gns, he stayed with Stoute, was gelded, and has reappeared to win the Winter Derby and Easter Classic on Lingfield’s Polytrack with authority. Whether time, the operation or the surface – or a smattering of all three – has brought about the transformation in his fortunes at the age of five remains to be seen.

A year ago Stormy Antarctic, Ed Walker’s first runner in Hong Kong, started second favourite for the 2,000 Guineas after winning the Craven Stakes, but beat just two of his 12 rivals. After a ten-week layoff he showed a decent level of form in Group 1 miling company without winning.

He reappeared in the Listed Doncaster Mile last month, looked like winning easily a furlong out but was pipped near the post by Kool Kompany. The apparent loss of concentration has persuaded Walker to apply blinkers for the first time.

Ed Walker with Stormy Antarctic, who is blinkered for the first timeCredit: Chris Bourchier

“He’s not ungenuine,” Walker said, “but blinkers may bring out the best in him by making him focus, and they’ve had a big effect when he’s worked in them at home. I still retain faith that he can bag a big one.”

Standing in the way of history being made by either Convey, on whom Olivier Peslier renews a rare but often fruitful association with the stable, or Stormy Antarctic, whose Hong Kong-based Mauritian rider Karis Teetan was suitably impressed by Thursday’s first acquaintance, are five locally trained runners, all of whom ran in the traditional prep race, the Chairman’s Trophy, a month ago.

Rapper Dragon (John Moore/Joao Moreira) continued his winning streak there after achieving a record-breaking clean sweep of Hong Kong’s three four-year-old ‘Classic’ races by beating Beauty Only (Tony Cruz/Zac Purton) by half a length. They finished clear of third-placed Circuit Land (Danny Shum/Hugh Bowman), with Contentment (John Size/Brett Prebble) and Helene Paragon (Moore/Tommy Berry) sixth and seventh.

If Rapper Dragon is to seal his Horse of the Year claims, he must overcome a 5lb turnaround in the weights with Beauty Only, winner of the Longines Hong Kong Mile in December.

Moreira, who rode in Adelaide on Saturday, produced a tactical masterclass to win last weekend’s big Group 1, the QEII Cup. In a race with no confirmed front-runner, local punters will make him favourite to repeat the trick.

Also at Sha Tin on Sunday 9.40am GMT
Chairman’s Sprint Prize| Group 1 | 6f | 3yo+

Familiar names from local stables line up against Hong Kong’s latest potential speed king Mr Stunning in the race that was enterprisingly promoted to international Group 1 status last year and is the fourth leg of the 2017 Global Sprint Challenge.

Post-race lameness has robbed the event of Aerovelocity, the only Hong Kong horse to have won Group 1s in three jurisdictions, who now retires to a legends’ park in Australia, and Dundonnell. However, the permutations remain just as complex, with 6lb covering the leading seven on international ratings.

Mr Stunning (John Size/Joao Moreira) launched himself to the top of the pile on his first run outside handicaps when he took his tally to seven wins from ten outings in last month’s prep race, the Sprint Cup.

Peniaphobia (Tony Cruz/Neil Callan), who led until collared in the last half-furlong, was the only one to trouble the winner in a messy affair that featured demotion for third-placed Lucky Bubbles (Francis Lui/Hugh Bowman) and a dead-heat for fourth by Blizzard (Ricky Yui/Damian Lane) and Thewizardofoz (Size/Chad Schofield).

Missing from the prep race were Amazing Kids (Size/Brett Prebble) and Not Listenin’tome (John Moore/Tommy Berry), who disappointed in Dubai in the Al Quoz Sprint and Golden Shaheen respectively.