It takes a lot to get Sir Alex Ferguson’s blood pumping these days, but its difficult to believe there will not be a little quickening of the pulse at Sha Tin on Sunday.

The former Manchester United manager’s globetrotting star Spirit Dancer goes in the HK$40 million Longines Hong Kong Cup at 4.40pm, and while a 20-1 outsider, the seven-year-old comes into the race on the back of a successful sojourn in the Middle East, which included winning the Bahrain International Trophy for a record second time.

Trainer Richard Fahey called the son of Frankel’s performance last month “the best of his life”, Ferguson said it was “fantastic” and could not hide his delight at the fact his horse was 4½ seconds faster than a year ago.

And it’s hard to imagine the man who danced onto the pitch at Old Trafford after Steve Bruce’s second goal against Sheffield Wednesday in 1993, or breathlessly exclaimed “football, bloody hell” following that famous Champions League night in Barcelona six years later, being “quite placid”, even if it is how Ferguson describes his demeanour these days.

The same cannot be said for fellow owners Peter Done and Ged Mason, who the 82-year-old Scot described as being “as excited as always”.

“Ged shows that, he’s up and down, whereas I’ve been a football manager, I’ve had 40 finals,” Ferguson said. “I’m quite placid about it, but nonetheless I share that excitement when it happens.

“For me, it [the enjoyment] lasts a little bit of time and we always celebrate it. An old manager of mine used to say ‘celebrate the wins, mourn the defeats’.”

There is “definitely” more time too to revel in triumphs these days than in the past “because the football wins don’t last long, they shouldn’t last long because you have to carry on, it’s only part of it”.

It is unlikely Spirit Dancer’s connections will be celebrating a win. It will take a lot to deny local favourite Romantic Warrior, and Fahey was pragmatic about anyone’s chances of unseating the champion.

“I think every horse would struggle with Romantic Warrior,” Fahey said. “He just looks the real deal, there don’t seem to be any chinks in his armour. We’d need him to have an off day to beat him, but you never know – it’s racing. If he [Spirit Dancer] can finish in the first five, I’d be over the moon.”

Ferguson, typically, said he would consider top two a success, and did not see his horse’s barrier draw as a disadvantage, pointing to the fact that he defied stall 11 twice in Bahrain, overcoming Lead Artist before thundering a length and three-quarters clear under Oisin Orr.

“It won’t be easy taking on the best in Hong Kong on their own turf, but you take some value from his [Spirit Dancer’s] performance,” Ferguson said.