Archimedes fits the ominous profile of the lightly raced Japanese middle distance horse just short of the top level in his homeland but ready to wreak havoc on foreign shores, and following a week of impressive workouts he can deliver a third Longines Hong Kong Cup to powerful owner Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.
Having previously won the race with Fantastic Light (2000) and Ramonti (2007), Archimedes (Yasunari Iwata) is one of the first fruits of Sheikh Mohammed's relatively recent foray into Japan, and astute handler Hideaki Fujiwara has set the horse for this event.
The local contingent seems strong and is reaching peak form, but looks incredibly evenly matched and prone to an above average visitor raining on the parade and Archimedes, an untapped winner of six from 13, looks the prime candidate to spoil the party.
A Japanese-trained horse has never won the Cup, but the country's strapping stallions have certainly made their mark in the other internationals - in particular the Audemars Piguet QE II Cup over the same course and distance in the spring, and the 2012 winner of that race, Rulership, strikes a decent comparison with Archimedes.
Rulership found himself a few lengths behind the best in Japan, was given a light preparation into the QE II and at his 15th start he dismantled Hong Kong's best at the time by three and a half lengths, before returning home and falling back into line.
Archimedes was invited to this year's QE II, but Fujiwara chose to rest his tired five-year-old and save him for the richest race ever held in Hong Kong, with a purse of HK$25 million.
In most cases being first-up for nine months, and having one run in the last 12 months, are hardly encouraging statistics heading into a 2,000m race, but the Japanese training facilities are superb, and Archimedes has had the work served up to him all week and thrived.
He has won three of five first-up, and after three months off was three and a half lengths behind Just A Way, where the winner had some breaks. Since then Just A Way has stamped himself as the world's highest rated racehorse by winning the Dubai Duty Free by six and a half lengths, grinding out a Yasuda Kinen victory and was second in the Japan Cup.
The last three Cups have been won by locally trained runners, but all with the help of gate one in a race where barriers matter, and while Archimedes has been held back at his last couple of starts, he has shown the ability to sit closer previously and can take advantage of barrier two.
A bunched finish in the local lead-up, the Jockey Club Cup - with less than a length separating the top five - not only makes it hard to separate the home team and difficult to find a true standout, but plants some seeds of doubt about the strength of the form.
Military Attack (Zac Purton) may be the best of them - his tactical versatility can help from a tricky draw - and underrated prelude winner Blazing Speed (Neil Callan) drew wide but can't be discounted.
Designs On Rome (Joao Moreira) was disappointing second up but back near his best last start. He drew perfectly here but there is a suggestion he hasn't progressed from last season's stellar campaign.
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