'I'm telling you this is a damn good horse,' Ping stressed after Flowers Treasure had won hard held from Starbuck last time out.
Since then Flowers Treasure has impressed in each and every piece of work and he goes into the seventh in fine condition.
He has to face one likely improver in this event in the shape of English import Viva Icta, who caught the eye last time out over 1,400 metres, and will be much better suited by the mile and worked very strongly from the barriers on Tuesday morning under Tony Cruz.
Ping and Stevens are also responsible for a very exciting griffin in the second event in Red Jeans who will relish the move to 1,400 metres.
Red Jeans' work and style of racing bears a striking similarity to that of another of Ping's stable stars, last season's leading griffin Polar Star, in that Red Jeans has a tremendous finishing burst.
He showed that on his debut down the straight and has hit the line really hard in his work and a trial since. Yesterday he had the measure of stablemate and excellent worker Star Of Marble in a testing piece.
His main dangers in the griffin race are likely to come from Patrick Biancone's last-start winner, Deauville and David Hill's Encore, while the likes of John Moore's Palace Glory and Certeza plus River Star and Raymondo can't be entirely ruled out in the most fascinating griffin contest of the season.
Deauville has progressed really well since his classy debut win and will also be suited by the extra distance while Encore put in a pleasing gallop on Tuesday alongside stablemate, Time Fit, and has been crying out for this 1,400-metre trip.
Ping and Stevens also have a bright chance in the opening event with Colour Picture who has been able to take more sustained work going into this straight 1,000-metre dash than prior to a number of other outings.
He will be hard to beat.
The Triple Trio has a typically nightmarish look about it. It's opening leg, the third race, looks exceptionally competitive with nothing standing out on work over the past fortnight or so with the possible exception of River Treasure who is fitter for his first crack at the bottom grade.
The middle pin is the Queen Elizabeth II Cup which shouldn't be so difficult to solve with all the overseas runners meriting respect, but especially Red Bishop who looks superb.
His International Vase form has worked out really well as runner-up Urgent Request went on to win one of America's top Group One handicaps.
The main local hopes, Makarpura Star and River Verdon, have looked in fine fettle since Gold Cup.
Preference is marginally for Makarpura Star on the grounds of youth, but River Verdon does look to have progressed slightly more for the outing and is likely to give the first-season New Zealand import a real tough battle for the honour of being the first locally trained runner home.
The final leg of the Triple Trio, race six, sees Ping's runner Win Tack in top form in the mornings, but then so is Stevens mount Winford. The latter is primed to run his best race of the season and merits the utmost respect.
Ivan Allan's Acquisition has also been going well for this race while Brave Duke is progressing nicely and should not be left out.
For the fifth event, the second leg of the Double Trio, the outstanding work - and it really has been work right out of the top drawer - has come from Alex Wong Siu-tan's most exciting find, Equine Supremo.
He could well reverse first-up form with Golden Heart, though the Stevens-ridden Irish import has also been working well alongside the likes of Flying High and Valiant Star.
