Able Friend strikes an imposing figure when walking out for trackwork each morning and performs his trademark pause, ears pricked, at the edge of the track. He also has the racetrack record to match the body builder physique, but by nature he is so quiet trainer John Moore reckons "a kid could ride him".

Descriptions of Able Friend's exploits usually include the words "monster" or "giant" - but rarely "gentle", "intelligent" let alone "lazy" - yet that is how the people closest to the world's equal highest-rated racehorse describe him.

"He is a gentle giant, nothing fazes him," Moore said of the 1,300-pound, nearly 17-hand monster that has swept all before him this season.

After a first-up defeat, Able Friend has steamrolled his opposition in effortless style and will be chasing six straight wins in today's HK$14 million Champions Mile, a win that would take his Hong Kong career earnings to HK$52.33 million.

Rarely does a horse boast the height and physique of Able Friend while still being able to move as gracefully as the five-year-old.

A kid may be able to ride him bareback, but no one other than race-day jockey Joao Moreira and regular trackwork rider Henry Wong Yu-hang are jumping aboard the chestnut, however mild-mannered he might be.

Moreira suggested to Moore earlier this season that they needed a new, larger saddle cloth for Able Friend

"He is very tall," Moreira said . "I can't touch the top of his head from the ground. I can only reach up just past his nose.

"But even though he is carrying so much weight, he uses it all to push him forward, that's why he goes so fast.

"He is amazing. There are very few horses like him in the world. When a horse the same size of him gallops usually, their whole body shakes and they are clumsy, their feet go everywhere - but he moves naturally."

That fancy footwork was on display two starts ago when Moreira was forced to extricate the horse out of a jam during the Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup. "As you saw that day, he can move his feet like a ballerina," he said.

Wong, a 24-year-old former-jockey, rides Able Friend more than anyone else and said the horse was "lazy and laid-back".

"He doesn't care about anything," Wong said. "But he seems to know what his job is."

In fact, Moreira says one of Able Friend's other great attributes is his intelligence and he even "trains himself".

"He has size, he has attitude, and he will express himself when he isn't feeling that well. And it's intelligence that really stands out.

"He knows himself and helps himself get fit," he said after some leisurely trackwork on Thursday. "When he is a bit fat, he seems to do more than he usually does. When he is extremely fit, he doesn't go that fast because he knows that he has to save it for race day. When he is fit, like today, he doesn't try that hard in trackwork."

Able Friend shares a characteristic of many great horses: of pausing to watch for a few minutes before heading on to the track.

"When you are riding a good horse and he wants to stop for a good look around, then you let him," Moreira said. "A lot of good horses do it. It's kind of like 'OK boy, you do whatever you want. But the donkey ones, you are like 'come on man, get moving'."

Extreme size isn't always a blessing in thoroughbred racehorses, especially in Hong Kong where firm surfaces can jar the joints of a less delicate mover.

"We usually don't buy such big horses," said the trainer's son and bloodstock agent George Moore, who purchased Able Friend on behalf of Cornel Li Fook-kwan for A$550,000 (HK$3.38 million) at the 2011 Australian Easter Yearling Sale.

"Most of the time a huge horse like that doesn't move well. That agility and athletic nature showed in the way he walked as a yearling. Nine times out of 10 when I show a horse that big to dad, he doesn't want to bring it here because it is too hard on them, but he was correct enough in his conformation to not only pass the vet checks but to stand up to the workload here.

"Having a horse with poor conformation, but a big engine like Able Friend's, is like having a Ferrari with no suspension, which you might get away with in Australia on slightly softer tracks, but not here.

"We have to have horses with excellent feet as well and even though Able Friend's feet are relatively small, for his size, they are obviously good enough to stand up to here."

Before the son of Shamardal and stakes-winning mare Ponte Piccolo even got to the sales he was bigger than the other foals in a well-grassed paddock at Turranga Farm in the Hunter Valley, but what stud owner Stuart Ramsey remembers most was the size of the colt's head, and how much grass he ate.

"He had a head on him only a mother would love," Ramsey said, adding that Able Friend's appetite meant he was only going to get bigger. He was an incredibly good 'doer' [meaning eater] and eventually he grew into that head and is now a magnificent looking animal."

Moore believes Able Friend's size comes from Shamardal's sire Giant's Causeway, although Ponte Piccolo could throw a big foal, too - albeit inconsistently.

"The foals were either too small or too big," said Ramsey, explaining why he sold the broodmare for just A$35,000 in 2013, before Able Friend's exploits as a four-year-old. "We are a commercial operation and we couldn't sell her foals."

Today when the fully grown Able Friend walks around the parade ring he will draw the usual oohs and ahhs from onlookers, but Moreira will coo to his "big buddy" like he would a child.

"We have a very good connection, mainly because I've been on him a few times now," the Brazilian said. "It might sound strange, but I do talk to him and it calms him down and he relaxes more. He understands the way I use my voice. I just call him 'big boy' and when I talk to him I feel he gets more confident in himself. He doesn't overrace and he does everything I ask."

And when Moreira asks for maximum effort, that's when the Able Friend that seems unbeatable is revealed with that stunning turn of foot, although the jockey hopes he doesn't have to draw the whip, as he did last start.

"That hurts me, I didn't want to hit him because there were horses sneaking up the inside that he might not have seen. I couldn't play with them," he said. "I don't think he ran up to his best that day. I wish I didn't have to draw the whip."

"When he does let down and sprint and stretch out, wow, it's an unbelievable feeling."