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O'Brien hoping lightly-raced Cairo can throw his hat into the ring.
It is not just the two high-profile horses, Luxembourg (Hong Kong Cup) and Warm Heart (Hong Kong Vase) Irish trainer Aidan O'Brien has sent to Hong Kong for the International meeting, but also the lightly raced three-year-old colt Cairo, who will be competing in the Group 1 Longines Hong Kong Mile.
Runner-up to Paddington in the Group 1 Irish Guineas (one mile) in May, Cairo was not seen again until resuming after a 148-day lay-off in Listed Knockaire Stakes (one mile) at Leopardstown in October where he finished third, after starting favourite.
Aidan O'Brien discussed the progress of the horse in the lead-up and aftermath of his most recent start:
"We were hopeful he'd get into Hong Kong, but he had to have a run".
"We were delighted with him. He obviously got a bit tired; the ground was very soft and wasn't ideal but his run before when he was second to Paddington was on nice ground and we've been very happy with his work since.
"We think he's progressed plenty. We always thought and hoped he could be a horse that could go on to a lot of those races all over the world.
Cairo, along with his stablemates arrived in Hong Kong on Saturday morning and had a look at the track on Monday. Stable representative travelling with the horses, Pat Keating said:
"Everything has been great, not a bother with them. This was their first time on the track this week, just an easy lap behind the lead horse, just be gradually building it up through the week but we're very happy with them."