The discussion at yesterday's BMW Champions Mile barrier draw seemed to be centred less around the draw itself than about the time and margin that would be posted by Dubai Duty Free winner Cityscape, with both John Moore and John Size conceding the English horse may simply be too good.
No foreign visitor has taken out the Champions Mile in its brief international history, but Moore said: 'After Cityscape's absolute annihilation of everyone in Dubai, he might do the same thing Rulership did to us in the QE II Cup a week ago. If he's anywhere near his Dubai form, we won't get near him.'
Glorious Days came out with the ideal No6 alley in a race Size won in an upset five years ago with Sight Winner, but the trainer said he was only 'hopeful'.
'That draw looks okay - there's never a lot of speed in these races and that's always something I'm concerned about, but Glorious Days will have options from there whether it's fast or slow,' Size said. 'I'm hopeful but I think Cityscape looks too good. His rating suggests it and so does what we've seen of him. I'd expect him to win.'
Cityscape's trainer Roger Charlton has commitments at Newmarket's 2000 Guineas meeting tomorrow and won't arrive until Sunday, however he commented positively on his No 7 draw using Twitter: 'Much better draw for Cityscape in Hong Kong than in December', recalling the six-year-old's desperately unlucky second to Able One after racing four wide all the way from gate 12.
The baldy faced stallion will be making his third international trip in five months but he left the likes of Xtension and Ambitious Dragon so far in his wake at Meydan that Moore was struggling for confidence, despite having five of the 14 runners and none drawn outside nine.
Destined For Glory (two), Sunny King (three) and Admiration (five) came up with low gates and defending Champions Mile hero Xtension (eight) and dual winner Able One (nine) were not badly served.
