As he strolled around Sha Tin this week, his "backyard" as he likes to refer to it, David Hayes could be excused for knowing pressure better than most.
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The Australian Hall of Famer spent nine years in the racing-mad mecca, where cab drivers gush about the influence of Danehill at stud once they get a sniff they have got an Antipodean passenger in the back seat.
This time? It is a little bit different for Hayes, who seems strangely immune to the pressure on one of world racing's biggest stages with a horse which has barely hobbled over the welcome mat at his stable.
Hayes, for all intents and purposes, will accept the adulation should Criterion spring a surprise in the $3.9 million Hong Kong Cup, given owner Sir Owen Glenn hasn't made the trip for the richest of the four international races due to ill health.
And he has little reason to be on edge given New Zealander Glenn, one of the world's biggest philanthropists, only summoned Hayes to take care of the Australian Derby winner a little over a month ago.
"I watched his Cox Plate run very closely and he could have easily been a Cox Plate runner-up or winner going into this race and there would have been a lot more pressure," Hayes said.
"I thought it was a world-class, competitive run without any luck. That might be my luck here. We're getting a nice easy run in, he's probably going to be a 15 or 20-1 shot when he should be 5-1. I prefer it [like that]."
While Hayes has replaced Payne after David in the racebook, Hugh Bowman remains unbudged as Criterion's rider. He is a familiar face to the locals, who watched the heavyweight hoop closely on a short term-riding assignment in Hong Kong earlier this year.
The same cannot be said about Damian Browne, the rider of Hong Kong Sprint combatant Buffering, Australia's only other representative on the star-studded card.
Not that Buffering's trainer Robert Heathcote thinks Browne shouldn't be hailed in the same breath as Bowman.
"Damian, in my opinion, has long been one of Australia's most underrated jockeys and it's really only been in the last couple of years with Woorim winning the Oakleigh Plate and my first group 1 and the emergence of Buffering [that he has got some recognition]," Heathcote said.
"It's not only that, but the riding Damian has done for the Darley crew and also what he's achieving now he's in the top echelon of riders in Australia."
Here is a brief look at the major races on Sunday's Sha Tin card:
HONG KONG VASE
Breeders' Cup Turf runner-up Flintshire looks to have panels on most of these on current form, hence the short price the colt has gone up in betting.
Most of the Australian interest will surround three-time Melbourne Cup runner-up Red Cadeaux, which is seeking a second win in the race in the past three years. He is third favourite, a spot behind fellow English hope Snow Sky for trainer Sir Michael Stoute and Cox Plate-Melbourne Cup-winning rider Ryan Moore.
The others? Germany's Empoli will start at big odds but if he can reproduce anything like his last-start group 1 win over the 2400-metre trip in Germany or a fighting fourth to Gentildonna in Dubai's Sheema Classic earlier this year, he could surprise.
HONG KONG SPRINT
Five countries represented, a myriad of formlines converging and a whole lot of head scratching for punters. How else do you explain the excruciatingly difficult puzzle that is the Hong Kong Sprint?
Fixed odds markets have the Hong Kong trio of Peniaphobia, Lucky Nine and Aerovelocity dominating betting, with Irish pair Sole Power and Gordon Lord Byron, the winner of the George Ryder over 1500m during the Sydney autumn carnival, stalking.
"There's no Lord Kanaloa in the race and basically if we get the splits, we're as good a shot as anybody," Gordon Lord Byron's trainer Tom Hogan said.
Watch for Singapore star Spalato, subject to an ongoing inquiry after his only defeat in the Jockey Club Sprint tune-up a fortnight ago, to go around at huge value.
Hong Kong stewards have this week released evidence to the public before it is tabled at Monday's inquiry to assist punters before the sprint feature. He can bounce back at big odds.
HONG KONG MILE
How is anything going to beat Able Friend? Handle the barrier – 11 in a field of 11 for "Magic Man" Joao Moreira – and John Moore's odds-on favourite will win.
On the strength of his runaway win in the Jockey Club Mile a fortnight ago, it is hard to see anything troubling Able Friend. Under Moreira, the winner of one of his two Australian starts under Hawkes Racing before transferring to Moore, walloped a handy field in the traditional Hong Kong Mile lead-up.
The minor placegetters on that occasion, Gold-Fun for Richard Gibson and Ambitious Dragon for Tony Millard, are shaping up again for a return bout while group 1-placed Japanese raider Fiero sits high in betting markets.
Certainly a lot higher than the field's rank outsider Hana's Goal, familiar to Australian followers after her win in the group 1 All Aged Stakes in the autumn carnival.
HONG KONG CUP
The Moore-Moreira combination is again to the fore with Designs On Rome while the astute Roger Varian will saddle-up Mackinnon Stakes placegetter Farraaj.
Japan's Archimedes has been an eye catcher on the track, but watch for Caspar Fownes' Military Attack and French star Cirrus Des Aigles, lining up for a fifth start at the international races, to give punters an excellent each-way shout.
Criterion faces an uphill task from an awkward draw.