Full of facts, figures and fallacies, racing can be a curious game. But how do you quite explain this one? John Moore, emanating from the famous Moore racing dynasty and Hong Kong's pre-eminent trainer, has never won a group 1 in the country of his birth.
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Reluctant traveller? Not the right horse at the right time? Quarantine restrictions? Could be any or all of the above.
But peeping from the other side of the wire fence at the newly-minted Canterbury quarantine centre, you get the sense that might all change.
The world's best miler Able Friend is not swanning around like top dog in the restricted area, much to the disappointment of many an administrator and casual racegoer who could have budgeted for Future Music Festival type numbers at Randwick if 'Big Red' walked down the Doncaster red carpet.
But a stablemate is. Dominant by name, maybe not so by nature. Not yet, anyway. But it won't matter one iota to the Moores if the unfashionable staying type, a former Hong Kong Vase winner begging for another wet Sydney autumn, can break the Australian duck before the other final frontier beckons for the acclaimed racing family.
"What we're trying to do is win a group 1 here because we've won a group 1 everywhere else," Moore's son George Junior, the stable's bloodstock agent and travelling trainer, said.
"Granted, we haven't won a group 1 in Europe yet, but with Able Friend, if he does travel down for the Queen Anne, he should be able to [win] because he's too good a horse. That's a good chance of winning a group 1 in Europe, we just have to win one here.
"We've got multiple in Dubai and multiple in Singapore. We've had places everywhere, but we haven't secured that group 1 [in Australia]."
It's not as if the Moores haven't been active in the Australian industry, forming part of the international buying bench at several major sales, but it's the racing side which they have long had an absence from. Until now.
George, whose mandate involves travelling with any horse he buys, is the man pulling the strings with Dominant. He plucked the horse from Roger Varian's stable, shipped it to Hong Kong and then watched as his father put speed back into the dour European legs.
Calling the shots now, George will make a flying visit back home for the Hong Kong Derby on the weekend to entertain a new client with a runner in one of the Asian racing mecca's most revered races.
His father will join him late next week after tidying up over a positive to an anti-inflammatory returned by one of his horses.
Only then will he be able to see Dominant up close and personal - and confirm everything George has been telling him over the past week.
"If we can travel with the horses and win with them everyone's happy," Moore Junior said. "I do three to four different carnivals every year with all different horses.
"I'm rolling with the flow and it's a schedule now. The first couple of trips we get a bit nervous because there's always issues with new environments. If we win a group 1 ... great. If we win a group race .... great. But we always try to work our hardest down here and get the horse to perform as best it can.
"The way he's travelling now ... he's probably in the top 10 per cent of horses in terms of settling in."
Air conditioned stables and the lack of barrier trials over a mile aside, Canterbury is just like being at home for Dominant. The weather is muggy. The track provides an opportunity to work whichever way Moore jnr pleases. And the headlines are usually elsewhere, namely the Japanese quartet on The Championships trail.
As early as next week, when Dominant tackles the group 1 Ranvet Stakes, the Moores might finally have the Australian major on the mantelpiece they probably deserve. Damien Oliver has been booked to take the ride.
Bookmakers will be tempted to scoff at Dominant's suitability for the race considering his primary target will be over longer at Randwick, most likely the Sydney Cup, but Moore Junior is bullish enough to think otherwise.
"We raced him over 1800-metres the other day and he ran third," he said. "Granted, he was a bit more forward in the race and he only got beat a neck. I was quite shocked to tell you the truth because we didn't think he would run that well.
"Just looking at him on the track now his coat is shining, he's working well and I wouldn't be surprised if he came out and won it. We just need to get a good draw.
"If we go to the Sydney Cup there's a query because he's never been over the distance, but the type of horse he is and from his work in Hong Kong he can probably go over the longer distances."
