Russian Emperor is the highest-rated horse in the Group 1, $1.3 million Standard Chartered Champions and Chater Cup, the featured sixth race Sunday at Sha Tin. The 5-year-old Irish import, by the great stallion Galileo, has been running in important Hong Kong races for about 15 months now and has raced effectively from 1,600 meters, about one mile, to 2,000 meters.   Yet for all the good work the gelding has done, he starts as the likely favorite Sunday with just one victory in his 14-race Hong Kong career. Moreover, that win, a blowout score going 2,000 meters Feb. 22 in the Hong Kong Gold Cup, came over a rain-soaked course that suited Russian Emperor more than any of his opponents.   There’s rain forecast this week in Hong Kong, too, but does Russian Emperor really want to go as far as the Champions and Chater Cup’s 2,400 meters, about 1 1/2 miles? Perhaps not. He was sixth in this race one year ago, that after finishing seventh in the 2,400-meter Queen Mary Memorial Cup. Russian Emperor has run hard this Hong Kong season during a campaign that began in September, and he seems worth betting against Sunday.  :: Hong Kong: Free PPs, picks, analysis, replays, and live streaming The Champions and Chater Cup is run at level weights, meaning horses rated considerably lower than Russian Emperor carry the same 126 pounds, but even so, both trainer Caspar Fownes entrants, Columbus County and Senor Toba, merit consideration.   Columbus County was beaten three lengths by the Aidan O’Brien-trained Mogul in this race’s 2021 renewal but did finish second. His effort in the 2,400-meter, Group 1 Kong Hong Vase this past December told a similar tale: Columbus County could not handle three international shippers but beat all the other Hong Kong-based horses. Columbus County is a 6-year-old with 22 Hong Kong starts, and Senor Toba has far more upside.   An Australian-bred by Toronado, Senor Toba jumped into Hong Kong’s 4-year-old Classic Series’ second leg, the 1,800-meter Hong Kong Classic Cup, and closed steadily to finish fifth of 14, getting his final 400 meters in a commendable 23.41 seconds. His 2,000-meter Hong Kong Derby was better, Senor Toba coming from 11th to nab fourth in what appears to have been a strong renewal of the Derby. The winner, Romantic Warrior, returned to beat older rivals in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, and runner-up California Spangle was second to Hong Kong’s best horse, Golden Sixty, in the Group 1 Champions Mile.   Senor Toba, meanwhile, went from the 2,000-meter Derby into the 2,400-meter Queen Mother Memorial Cup, and while he did get 13 pounds from runner-up Butterfield as well as a sweet ground-saving trip, Senor Toba saw out the 1 1/2-mile distance comfortably while racing over a course rated good-to-yielding. He gets no weight break Sunday but does get the services of ace jockey Joao Moreira.  Sunday’s supporting feature, the Group 3 Sha Tin Vase over 1,200 meters, is run under handicap conditions and weight should be a factor. Sky Field in a vacuum would be formidable in the Sha Tin Vase but is burdened with 133 pounds, and while he has won before under that impost, there are lower-rated horses worth a look.  Cordyceps Six, a 3-year-old jumping from Class 2 handicap competition all the way to Group 3, has a powerful late run, and only in his last two starts moved from 1,000-meter straight course races to 1,200 meters around a Sha Tin turn. On April 24, in his most recent race, he rallied from 12th in upper stretch, going his final 400 meters in 22.07, to finish second, beaten less than one length by a horse getting a 13-pound weight break. Sunday, Cordyceps Six carries just 113 pounds, 20 fewer than Sky Field.   First post for this 11-race card is 12:30 a.m. Eastern. The Champions and Chater Cup goes as race 6, the Hong Kong Vase a race 9. Watch and wager at DRFBets.com.