As you all know, the Community Chest has provided essential financial support to various social and community organisations in Hong Kong for many years, and the Club has long been one of its major donors. We also subsidise a grant to the Chest every year, so as to cover all costs of its administrative operations. This allows the Chest to fully channel the donations it has raised to all beneficiaries without any deductions.
Over the years, the Community Chest has been arranging for its Board Members regular visits to different local beneficiaries, their purpose being to enable us to understand more about the beneficiaries’ usual operations and areas of services, and to find out whether there are any further needs with which the Chest could offer further support in the future.
Earlier this week, I paid a visit to the Ebenezer New Hope School in Pok Fu Lam. I believe many locals will have known Ebenezer’s name for a long time. Apart from its status as one of the pioneers in local special education, the school has, for decades, provided education services and other support to many children and adults who are visually impaired and have other disabilities. Boarding school services are also available to its students so as to help them further develop their own potential and self-care ability. In fact, the Club, through its Charities Trust, also sponsored Ebenezer’s renovation of its current school building and related extension back in the 1990s.
During the visit, I had the chance to chat with some education staff and students. They are all very kind, and the staff members also show great love and patience towards their students. I was very touched to see Ebenezer’s service taking care of so many underprivileged children. As the school is now running out of space, and many of their students and parents are living in Kowloon and the New Territories, they would like to build a more spacious and modern buildings in the New Territories. But as you can imagine, the allocation of a new site is always difficult, I sincerely hope there would be good news for Ebenezer very soon.
There are also good news on the racing front as although severe typhoon Megi threatened Hong Kong earlier this week, the storm just skirted way off east of Hong Kong, without creating much disruption in the city. I am delighted that our 10 races at Sha Tin tomorrow can continue as scheduled.
No matter tomorrow’s races would or would not be held under rain-affected conditions, I think they will be equally exciting as the card includes two Group 3 events, namely the Premier Bowl over six furlongs and Mission Hills Sha Tin Trophy over a mile. Prolific runners such as One World, Sweet Sanette, Able One and Collection will participate in these races as part of their preparation for the lead-up races next month for the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Races. Please come along and join us at the racecourse to see how they perform in these two pattern races.
The Premier Bowl is the second major lead up race for the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint. With the expected good to fast pace, it will ensure a real contest! Sweet Sanette – probably one of the speediest mares in the world – should take the early lead and I expect her to be in the finish, but the 1200 metres distance will stretch her stamina to the limit. After a good first up in the Sha Tin Sprint Trophy earlier this month, One World is going well and this international level performer should be the horse to beat. Among other runners, I expect Amigo with Douglas Whyte on board to finish strongly and be a threat to One World, while in-form outsider No More Green can also give a challenge.
The Mission Hills Sha Tin Trophy is another fantastic race with some of our stars lining up to get going for the Internationals. The expected pace should be good to slow and this should help Able One and Beauty Flash to be well positioned. After his last good run in the National Day Cup, Able One showed nice progress in recent trackwork. Despite he’s carrying top weight, he will still be a key contender in this race. Beauty Flash is also improving and should run well too. For other contestants, Thumbs Up is working well after joining the Caspar Fownes’ Stable. I’ll be interested to see if he will show his usual late dash. While mile distance performer Chater Way being for me the horse which can surprise all, I think last season’s Derby winner Super Satin will run a better race tomorrow. He is improving significantly but from his draw and the pace, I expect him to be at his best later in the season.
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