Sacred Kingdom started a prohibitive 1-10 favourite and was far less authoritative than expected in beating veteran Scintillation - a gelding he's been flogging all season - by three-quarters of a length.

However, it did bring Sacred Kingdom's record for the season to five wins and two seconds from seven starts, and heartbreakingly close to becoming the first horse in local racing history to win seven in a season.

The big news from the afternoon is not only that Yiu favours running Sacred Kingdom in the Group One Sprinters' Stakes in Japan as his next big target, but that the Encosta de Lago gelding may have a lead-up race there as well.

"The problem for us is that the Hong Kong season only starts in September and there is no lead-up race suitable for Sacred Kingdom before the Sprinters' Stakes," Yiu explained.

"So we may go to Japan early and run him in the lead-up race there."

The lead-up to which Yiu referred is the Group Two Centaur Stakes over 1,200 metres at Hanshin on September 14. The Group One Sprinters' Stakes, a leg of the Global Sprint Challenge, will be decided over the same distance at Nakayama on October 5.

Jockey Howard Cheng Yue-tin had his first ride on Sacred Kingdom in yesterday's feature and scarcely had a moment's worry after a stroke of early luck that saw rival Scintillation posted three wide without cover.

"It was a race in which I had to be sure I made no mistakes," Cheng said later. "If I do my part he wins, but if something goes wrong or I make a mistake, he could lose. It was that simple."

Cheng described Sacred Kingdom's performance as excellent.

"I think, after having a run at 1,400 metres last start, he is probably looking for further than 1,200 metres and that's the reason he didn't look quite so sharp," Cheng said thoughtfully.

"Also, he's getting more experienced now and was inclined to pull up once he thought the job was done. But he was never going to lose, and he did ultimately win by a good margin, with something extra in hand as well."

Because there is no programmed local lead-up on the local calendar, there is a possibility the Jockey Club could look at a change of conditions of the Chief Executive's Cup, on the opening meeting of the season in early September.

Under its current format, the Chief Executive's Cup is a Class One race, but if the race planning committee, under senior handicapper Nigel Gray, was to make it a Premier race instead, then Sacred Kingdom would be eligible, as would Absolute Champion if his trainer David Hall decided to take aim at Japan as well.

"My colleagues and I will be looking at the programming for the early part of next season in around six weeks and if there seems to be a demand for the Chief Executive's Cup to become a Premier, rather than a Class One, then it's something we would be prepared to consider," Gray said.

An interested observer was Gerald Mosse, who was sacked from Sacred Kingdom after being lucklessly beaten on him, by no less an animal than Good Ba Ba, in the Group One Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup on March 16.

"Let's just say I was very pleased for the horse that he won," Mosse summed up.