By MIKE DILLON
Steve McKee peered through the rain and shivered in the cold at Sha Tin racetrack yesterday morning and wondered about the glamour.
It will arrive when Sunline parades for the $2.65 million Hong Kong Mile on Sunday, but it seemed a long way off in yesterday's gloom.
Yesterday McKee and his father, Trevor, were delighted with their first look at Sunline since the champion mare flew to Melbourne last weekend.
"She has come through two flights remarkably well," said Steve McKee.
"She's very bright. She lost 9kg on the flight up here and has put all but 2kg of it back on already. She's eating a huge feed every night and thriving."
Unlike last year, when Sunline galloped strongly before being beaten in the Hong Kong Cup, she will do very little in the way of serious training before Sunday's feature.
"She will probably do a bit of threequarter pace either tomorrow morning [Thursday] or Friday, just to clear her wind.
"She had a serious gallop before she left home and she's fit and ready to go."
Greg Childs will almost certainly not climb on Sunline's back before Sunday. He is riding at the night meeting at Moonee Valley tonight before flying to Hong Kong, which saw him miss last night's international jockeys' series at Happy Valley racetrack.
"Apart from the Breakfast With The Stars gallop before the Cox Plate, Greg has not been on her in trackwork since Hong Kong last year, so it's not going to make any difference to her," said McKee.
European betting shop Coral Eurobet has European horses favourite for three of the four international races on Sunday, but has Sunline clear favourite for the Mile.
Coral Eurobet is offering 7-4 ($2.75) about the Kiwi mare, reasonably clear of local champion Fairy King Prawn at $4.
Godolphin's Fantastic Light (3-1) has been installed joint favourite for the Hong Kong Cup with last year's winner, French-trained Jim And Tonic.
Jim And Tonic has won three of four starts at Sha Tin. His defeat came in a tight photo finish in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup this year.
Fantastic Light finished a close third in the Japan Cup two weeks ago and Godolphin's travelling foreman, Brian Powell, said after Sha Tin trackwork yesterday that the horse had come out of the Japan Cup well.
Coral Eurobet has Melbourne Cup third placegetter Second Coming as a 16-1 outside in the 2400m Vase.
Cup: 3 Fantastic Light, Jim And Tonic, 9-2 Greek Dance, 7 Industrialist, 10 Samum, 12 Elle Danzig, Forbidden Apple.
Sprint: 9-4 Nuclear Debate, 4 King Of The Danes, 6 Bertolini, Big Jag, 10 Best Of The Bests, Superb Effect.
Vase: 7-2 Catella, Daliapour, Ela Athena, 7 Helene Vitality, 8 Indigenous, 12 Caitano, Val's Prince, 16 Murghan, Second Coming, 25 Silvano.
Mile: 7-4 Sunline, 3 Fairy King Prawn, 7 Electric Unicom, 10 Last Resort, Testa Rossa, 14 Adam, Faberger, New Trumps, Sugarfoot.
Racing: Sunline thriving despite weight loss in buildup
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