December is just days away and, as things stand, the global racing Class of 2024 has some room at the top.

Perhaps that isn’t too surprising given that so many star pupils from 2023 have graduated to new challenges.

The mighty Equinox retired to Shadai Stallion Station as world champion (with an international rating of 135) after blitzing a high-class field headed by Liberty Island in the Japan Cup.

Ace Impact is settling into stud life at Haras du Beaumont near Deauville after completing his unbeaten racing career with a stylish success in last year’s Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

And Hong Kong’s three-time Horse of the Year Golden Sixty is heading for retirement in Japan (via quarantine in Australia) after winning three editions of the LONGINES Hong Kong Mile and being a fixture in the world’s top ten for four remarkable years.

Laurel River topped the latest edition of the LONGINES World’s Best Racehorse Rankings on a rating of 128 but hasn’t been seen since winning a strange renewal of the Dubai World Cup in March.

City Of Troy (127) lit up the British summer only to fail his toughest exam on dirt in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, while Japan’s travelling stars managed only B and C grades in Europe and America in the second half of the season.

But perhaps 2024 is saving at least some of its best for last.

Via Sistina is level with City Of Troy as the world’s best turf horse after a record breaking recent Cox Plate triumph and the door is ajar for a host of stars to stake a late claim for championship honours in this year’s LONGINES Hong Kong International Races.

The Sha Tin showpiece has long been a magnet for international raiders but this year’s edition – which feature over twenty G1 winners from Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, Great Britain, Ireland, France and the USA – looks exceptional.

Britain’s wait for a LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint hero is well into its third decade but Starlust has excelled in a stellar season for the trainer/jockey duo of Ralph Beckett and Rossa Ryan and arrives in Hong Kong after producing a thrilling late charge to land the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.

Aidan O’Brien flies the Irish flag again with a high-class team including LONGINES Hong Kong Vase hope Luxembourg, who came agonisingly close to thwarting Romantic Warrior’s bid for a second Hong Kong Cup last year.

Australia is back on the HKIR stage for the first time since 2022 with three runners including last year’s Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup hero Without A Fight and runaway recent G1 Toorak Handicap winner Antino.

France supplies five intriguing contenders including Vase contender Iresine and Mile hope Lazzat, while America is represented for the first time since 2017 with last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Nobals.

And Japan will bid to add to a highly impressive HKIR record with a typically potent party including last year’s spectacular Triple Tiara heroine Liberty Island (Cup) plus fellow G1 winners Lugal (Sprint), Soul Rush (Mile), Tastiera (Cup) and Stellenbosch (Vase).

Nothing can be taken for granted when full fields of high-class horses do battle but HKIR week is about more than just four G1 contests worth a record HK$126 million in prize money.

Ryan Moore sets a high priority on the LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship and the dual previous winner (2009 and 2010) will face fierce rivalry from eleven world-class rivals including previous winners Zac Purton, Vincent Ho, Hugh Bowman and Karis Teetan at Happy Valley on 4 December.

But champions of a different kind will be centre stage at Sha Tin four days later.

Via Sistina’s rider James McDonald hailed Romantic Warrior as “the heavyweight champion of the world” after Danny Shum’s globetrotting superstar returned from a summer break with a thunderous BOCHK Jockey Club Cup success to set himself up for an unprecedented third consecutive LONGINES Hong Kong Cup win.

And the normally guarded Purton feels “we are entering scary territory” with Ka Ying Rising after David Hayes’s dazzling youngster demolished a field containing three G1 winners - breaking Sacred Kingdom’s 2007 track record with his rider blowing a kiss to the camera - in the G2 BOCHK Private Banking Jockey Club Sprint.

Winning is the prime priority as Hong Kong’s star students face their daunting international test but with victory comes the chance to carve a lasting place in HKIR history and prompt a late reshuffle in the end-of-year global rankings.

Those ratings don’t paint 2024 as a stellar year as things stand and Romantic Warrior and Ka Ying Rising are currently rated 122 and 121 on the global scale.

But the depth of this year’s HKIR contests could propel certain winners to even greater heights.

And, at a time when five petalled bauhinias are bursting into pink and purple life all over Hong Kong, maybe history will show the equine Class of ’24 also contains some spectacular late bloomers.