I expect many of you can still remember the success he enjoyed with Fairy King Prawn, the first Hong Kong horse to achieve an overseas Group One victory in the Yasuda Kinen in 2000. Globetrotting stayer Indigenous and evergreen champion Oriental Express were also products of his consummate training skills. Ivan also gained considerable success as an owner, winning the English St Leger in 1984 and Irish Champion Stakes the following year with Commanche Run. In addition he was active in the horse breeding business and imported a few progenies of Citidancer – a sire that he owned – when he was a trainer in Hong Kong. He was truly a great horse lover.
I always saw Ivan as being a very organised person, who had a very clear vision and direction on what he was doing. In the days when I was the Club's Executive Director of Racing, we sometimes held different stances and opinions on the Club's racing policies and Racing Stewards' decisions, and from time to time our discussions could get quite heated. But none of these incidents ever affected our long-term relationship, or diminished my respect for this outstanding horseman.
It's so sad to lose this good friend and great horseman. My condolences go to his loved ones and I hope they can overcome this difficult time soon.
To pay our tribute to this master trainer, the Club has prepared a video highlighting some great moments in his legendary career and it will be shown at the Diamond Vision at Sha Tin Racecourse today. So I hope you can come watching this video in the racecourse, and recall Ivan's outstanding achievements and contributions to the sport over the years.
There will always be sad moments in our lives that fall outside our control, but the sweeter sides of life are within our power to create. Anyway, life goes on and we have to look forward.
We have 10 races at Sha Tin this afternoon to capture our attention. I shall be watching the performance of Ichiban in the Panasonic Momi-Momi Handicap. This horse, owned by our former Club Chairman Ronald Arculli, has shown better form in his close finish at a mile race last month. An extended distance at 1800m should be suitable for him and I hope he can perform better today.
Johnson in the Panasonic Nanocare Handicap is another runner that caught my attention. This four-year-old horse has shown better maturity as he won his last race in an emphatic fashion. He will again compete in a 1400m race and I'll fancy him to produce another solid run today.
We will also simulcast the Patinack Farm Classic from Flemington Racecourse shortly. Despite there are just nine runners to contest in this Group One race, I still think this small field will be very competitive. Apache Cat and Mic Mac, both trained by Greg Eurell, ran nicely in their previous race in the Schweppes Stakes a fortnight ago. I will be interested to see if they can get another one-two finish for his trainer. However, All Silent has won all of his three previous outings at Flemington. Let's see if he can stage a challenge to Apache Cat and Mic Mac in this event.
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