Four top international milers are aiming to take on 10 of Hong Kong’s finest in the HK$12 million G1 Champions Mile at Sha Tin racecourse on Sunday, 4 May, with the globe-trotting Gordon Lord Byron from Ireland and South African star Variety Club among the 14 selected runners revealed today (Wednesday, 16 April).

That duo, along with the talented French raider Mshawish and Japanese contender Meiner Lacrima, will provide stiff competition to the Hong Kong contingent, which is headed by December’s G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile one-two Glorious Days and Gold-Fun, and also features the rising star of the local mile ranks, the highly-touted Able Friend. And never one to be overlooked is last year’s tough victor, the ever reliable Dan Excel.

“The Champions Mile is ranked among the IFHA list of the world’s top 50 Group 1 races and the 2014 edition is yet another outstanding race. As befits a contest of global interest, we have four genuine contenders from overseas that will push this crop of exciting Hong Kong milers to their peak, and perhaps one from this quartet of international challengers has what it takes to end the local dominance,” said Mr William A. Nader, the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Executive Director of Racing.

“Variety Club is a two-time South Africa Horse of the Year and he impressed again when winning in Dubai while Gordon Lord Byron has proven himself time and again in the very best races on three continents. Added to that, the home team is bursting with class, both proven and emerging, and the presence of such a highly-regarded up-and-comer as Able Friend, taking his place for the first time against these established stars, gives this year’s race an added layer of interest. It promises to be world-class racing at its very best.”

Variety Club was a comfortable victor of the G2 Godolphin Mile (Tapeta) at the Dubai World Cup meeting in March, having already proven himself in South Africa thanks to three G1 wins at the distance. The Champions Mile will be the five-year-old’s first start for trainer Mike de Kock, who has had five previous shots at the race with Musir’s third-place in 2011 being the closest he has come to victory. No international runner has so far placed higher than third since the race attained global G1 status in 2007, with the Australian raider Dao Dao in 2009 achieving the same position as Musir.

Ireland’s star sprinter/miler Gordon Lord Byron has crossed the line fourth in the past two renewals of the LONGINES Hong Kong Mile over the course and distance and will return to Sha Tin off the back of an Australian campaign. The Tom Hogan-trained gelding notched his third G1 win in the George Ryder Stakes (1500m) at the end of March and was then a running-on sixth in the G1 T J Smith Stakes (1200m) on 12 April. Mshawish, trained by Mikael Delzangles, landed the G2 Zabeel Mile in Dubai this term and was fourth behind Just A Way in the G1 Dubai Duty Free (1800m) last start. The Hiroyuki Uehara-trained Meiner Lacrima was also fourth to Just A Way last start, in the G2 Nakayama Kinen (1800m) on 2 March.

Glorious Days won the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile first-up this term for trainer John Size and heads into the Champions Mile fresh after only one further start this term, a seventh-place in January’s HKG1 Stewards’ Cup (1600m), which was won by the re-opposing Tony Cruz-trained Blazing Speed.

Gold-Fun, like his December conqueror, flopped in the Stewards’ Cup but was back on song last time. Richard Gibson’s charge impressed with a smart half-length victory over the John Moore-trained Dan Excel in the HKG1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m) at Sha Tin on 16 March.

Dan Excel may be the returning champion in this year’s Champions Mile but the Moore stable’s number one is likely to be Able Friend, a brilliant winner of the HKG1 Hong Kong Classic Mile earlier this year before fine runner-up efforts behind stablemate Designs On Rome in the HKG1 Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m) and HKG1 BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m). Able Friend warmed up for this task with an easy victory in the HKG2 Chairman’s Trophy at the course and distance earlier this month. Another promising four-year-old from the same yard is Flagship Shine.

California Memory is slated to make a welcome comeback from injury for the Tony Cruz stable. The popular grey, twice winner of the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (2000m) and Hong Kong’s reigning Champion Stayer, has not been in action since the G2 LONGINES Jockey Club Cup (2000m) in November.

Helene Spirit was a close second to Dan Excel in the 2013 Champions Mile for trainer Caspar Fownes, while the Size-trained Real Specialist was a solid fifth in the LONGINES Hong Kong Mile in December. The Cruz-trained Zaidan won the HKG1 Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m) in 2012 and was second in that year’s G1 SIA Cup.