After four successive Group Ones, Good Ba Ba received official recognition as the joint top-ranked miler on the globe - though Coolmore's Henrythenavigator has overtaken him since - and Sacred Kingdom remains the top-ranked sprinter. Sacred Kingdom was awesome in the Hong Kong Sprint, leading a first-to-fifth result for locals to again drive home the strength of sprinting here and we await his tilt at the Sprinters' Stakes in Japan in October with bated breath.

Likewise, Good Ba Ba was a machine at home and toughed it out with big-name visitors for the fourth hometown Hong Kong Mile win in six years.

Great achievements from both, but it is a measure of how far Hong Kong racing has come that, after winning "only" three internationals - all at home and one of dubious international makeup - the feeling is that results didn't come despite more horses campaigning overseas than ever before. Three hopefuls went to Dubai's World Cup carnival, with Viva Pataca's Sheema Classic second the best result.

In Singapore, Sanziro's third was overshadowed by the tragic destruction of Absolute Champion.

In Japan's Yasuda Kinen, Good Ba Ba and Bullish Luck failed to show up, while John Size flew the flag with Armada's second at the trainer's first foreign sortie.

And if that totally unreasonable feeling of international disappointment had a name, it was Viva Pataca. He won a domestic Group One and Group Two, placed in five Group Ones, including three internationals, and ended the term rated among the top 14 in the world.

If that's disappointing, please curse us with more disappointing horses - but expectation got the better of things. His Cox Plate campaign was high on hopes but aborted due to Australia's equine influenza, a switch to the Breeders' Cup vetoed by owner Stanley Ho Hung-sun, so it was back to plan A and the Cathay Pacific Internationals.

A matter of riding tactics saw Viva Pataca downed by Ramonti. Unlucky yes, but not the result expected. Back on track in the Gold Cup, Viva Pataca went to Dubai's Sheema Classic a worthy favourite but, unlike Vengeance Of Rain, he was unlucky in the draw. He was left with a brave second not a win, then Mike de Kock's Archipenko took the QEII Cup with Viva Pataca third and Dubai to blame for a "flat run".

As a racehorse, Viva Pataca was outstanding. As a champion, it was barely acceptable.

The internationals in December were the usual highlight of racing excellence but they and the QEII meeting suffered fallout from equine influenza with fewer visitors than usual in some races and a Champions Mile with only one overmatched Japanese guest - a travelling companion for a QEII Cup-bound stablemate. The Jockey Club has boosted stakes for the Champions Mile to HK$12 million next year but it still pales against Dubai (US$5 million for each of the big turf races), and the club is powerless to do anything about that.