IT is fair to say that we have come a long way in a week; the experiences over the past seven days feel like a lifetime’s worth, but well worth every minute.

After our late arrival last Thursday all we wanted to do was head to our hotel and get some rest. So it wasn’t until the next morning when we returned to Sha Tin racecourse where Byron is stabled, that we really got to appreciate the magnificence of the place.

It is an enormous, state of the art facility that is maintained with immaculate care. It houses 1,200 horses and has the capacity for 85,000, exceeding that of Cheltenham by nearly 20,000 which, when considering it is surrounded by towering skyscrapers in the heart of the city, is pretty phenomenal.

Byron seems to relish being back; he struts out onto the track each morning and revels in the attention from the press and photographers who come to see him despite the 4am track time.

He immediately settled back into his routine here and is completely unfazed by the whole experience, not once leaving anything to eat or drink.

The same can’t quite be said for my trusty assistant Mick, who has taken a little longer to adjust to his new surroundings.

For the first couple of days he planted himself in the hotel and survived entirely on pizza. In hindsight I could have benefited from sharing a modicum of his cautiousness.

Instead I was far too keen early on and overcome with a misplaced sense of adventure, ordered fried duck tongue for my first meal. And goaded by my bravado some others in our party took me on in the ‘most revolting food stakes’.

Alas, neither the tongue, pig intestines nor fried frogs were remotely edible and Mick and his pizza were the only winners that night.

One thing that has really struck both Mick and me about Hong Kong is how welcoming and hospitable everyone here is.

The staff at the racecourse and at the hotel are incredibly helpful, the latter even set up a television for us to watch Cheltenham. They are so enthusiastic to help, you can’t be anything but grateful even when they don’t fully understand.

After asking at reception, with the aid of what I thought was pretty descriptive sign language, for a needle and thread, I was promptly presented with a bowl, a knife and a fork.

Not wanting to seem unappreciative I gratefully received my utensils and returned to my room to change into my shirt, less one button.

There really is only one exception to this rule, and I don’t like to generalise, but we haven’t had the best of experiences with taxi drivers.

It immediately became apparent how shocking and quite frankly terrifying the taxi drivers are. We learnt a very valuable lesson going to the track one morning when we jumped into a waiting taxi whose driver was sound asleep.

After waking him up, we set off on the short drive to the racecourse at an alarming speed and when he realised he had taken a wrong turn, instead of continuing to the roundabout 50 yards down the road, our driver made a handbrake U-turn right into the path of an oncoming bus. Luckily they make sturdy enough taxis here and we all escaped relatively unscathed.

Tom and Wayne arrived on Wednesday night and were quite relieved to find us all in one piece, especially Byron who did his final piece of work with Wayne on the turf on Thursday morning.

With race day on Sunday just around the corner, there are only the finishing touches left to his preparation. We are confident we have the horse in good form but there is no denying what an extremely competitive race it will be.

There are 11 entries and some world-class horses against us but we are ready to give it our best.

All in all this week has been quite a rollercoaster of experiences. The combination of it all; from the cuisine to the culture, the jet lag and the early starts, the nervous anticipation and building excitement, has left Mick and me feeling like we’ve just been hit by a bus….

“The great object of life is sensation – to feel that we exist, even though in pain.” - Gordon Lord Byron

THE CARD

THE QUEEN’S SILVER JUBILEE CUP Sha Tin, 7f $10,000,000, Group 1

1. ABLE FRIEND J Moreira J Moore

2. GOLD-FUN C Soumillon R Gibson

3. DAN EXCEL T Berry J Moore

4. AMBITIOUS DRAGON Z Purton A T Millard

5. GORDON LORD BYRON W Lordan T A Hogan

6. BEAUTY FLAME G Mosse A S Cruz

7. REWARDING HERO N Callan J Moore

8. SECRET SHAM N Rawiller J Moore

9. REAL SPECIALIST T Angland J Size

10. DUNDONNELL D Whyte R Gibson

11. DIVINE CALLING R Moore A. T Millard