While the major Royal Ascot sprint prizes have been rich pickings for Australians in recent years, the 2016 assault force from down under looks to be rapidly diminishing, with the likely line-up taking a number of twists and turns in the past fortnight.

Bow Creek, who represents Godolphin's Australian division as one of two runners for the operation in Sunday's HK$14 million (£1.16m) Champions Mile at Sha Tin, will fly from Hong Kong to England the following day with the other, Charlie Appleby-trained Safety Check.

主席短途奖的抽签结果已于昨日揭晓，澳洲赛驹「肖托夸」（又名「尚多湖」）和「缓冲」（又名「缓冲之计」）都抽到了比较理想的闸位。

Trainer John O’Shea is hoping the forecast is wrong and the Sha Tin track will not cop a lot of rain before the 2016 Champions Mile.

Australian sprinters Chautauqua and Buffering have both drawn in the first half of the field for the 2016 Chairman’s Sprint Prize in Hong Kong.