Last Monday, Club Chairman Brian Stevenson and I attended the Hong Kong Racehorse Owners Association Annual Dinner. Our Chairman took this opportunity to share his vision for the Club with the guests and outline some of the challenges we will be facing in the coming years.
Both the Chairman and I believe it's important for our Owners to know the Club's standpoint on these issues, as the Owners have always played a critical role in the success of Hong Kong horse racing and the Club’s not-for-profit business model. Without the Owners' willingness to invest in top horses, none of these successes would be possible.
Though Hong Kong racing already stands at world-class levels, becoming one of our city’s most valuable brands that recognised world-wide for years, we are now in a growingly globalised and competitive market and can’t simply sit back on past achievements. Currently, a few external factors are preventing us to keep pace with the rest of the world in some areas of racing development; ageing trend in our core customer base is also an issue of concern. To overcome these challenges, we believe the Club needs to have a clear vision for the future.
While it's important that our Owners continue bringing the very best horses to Hong Kong, it is equally important that world-class training facilities are available. Up to now we've had no realistic room to expand or develop our existing stable and training facilities at Sha Tin. However, the new Conghua Training Centre project offers us the opportunity to overcome the current capacity constraints when it comes into operation, as well as extend our training capabilities in different areas, such as providing an uphill gallop for horses to help them master undulating tracks.
On one hand, we have a world-recognised racing product and are committed to upgrading our training facilities; we also need to strengthen the leisure and entertainment element of our sport, so as to retain existing customers and attract new blood to horse racing and horse ownership. We have to keep enhancing our racecourse facilities and services to meet the needs of different customer segments, as well as to make a day or a night at the races an unforgettable experience.
Over the past few years, we've conducted many enhancements to our Owners', Members' and public facilities at both racecourses. We will continue to carry out further major renovations at Sha Tin and Happy Valley in the coming seasons.
Another challenge is making horse racing more sports-driven than just money-driven in the local mindset. In that regard, I’m delighted to see the growing popularity of our simulcast programme over the past two seasons, as it shows that our local race fans are now taking a more global perspective. There’s certainly plenty of room for further development in this area, but I would say that simulcasting and world recognition are a two-way street. We cannot expect the world to come to Hong Kong’s door without also making the effort to go to theirs through reciprocal arrangements. To make that possible, we need the Government's understanding and support.
The situation we face on the issue of commingling is quite similar. Although we have managed to get Government’s agreement to review the current taxation structure to facilitate inbound commingling, we have so far not being allowed to participate in outbound commingling, which makes commingling agreements virtually unimplementable in practice. The Club is actually the party that pioneered the concept of commingling but ironically many of our racing counterparts have now surpassed us in this area. Should the current standstill continue, Hong Kong racing could soon find itself isolated from the rest of the world.
We appreciate that the Government has many issues to consider and we realise it's not going to be easy to make a breakthrough, but we have to keep trying as such changes are critical for the long-term viability of our operations. I hope that our Government and decision-makers can grasp the importance of these matters and allow the Club more flexibility to compete in today's globalised market.
Meanwhile, it will be business as usual at Happy Valley tonight, when we host our regular midweek night meeting. I hope you will come along with your friends to cheer your favourite jockeys and horses, as well as enjoy a Bavarian atmosphere alongside the track at our encore version of the Oktoberfest, with some great German food and beer on offer.
Among the eight races on our card tonight, there will include the Fakei Cup, which was first run in Hong Kong back in 1856. The name Fakei was taken from the Cantonese term for the “Stars and Stripes”, and literally it means Flowery Flag. Appropriately, the race trophy tonight will be presented by Mr Stephen Young, the Consul General of the US Consulate General Hong Kong.
The race is expected to be run at a good pace. Happy Seven and Hussler should go forward and lead, which will give them a good chance to be in the placings. But I think Caspar Fownes-trained Hold Hands holds the best chance in this race. Having won three times in this course and distance, he showed a resurgence of form in his fourth-place finish in his previous start 10 days ago. He was drawn to start at Gate 2 and I hope to see how he performs tonight. The Derek Cruz-trained Fun Rider is currently leading the 1O1O Million Challenge. He was very consistent over this distance and despite his draw of 10, he will still be the main rival to Hold Hands in this race.
In the New York Handicap, despite having only 10 starters, it remains to be a very good race and the highlight of today’s card. It is of one of the most open races I have seen this season and you can make a case for every horse. The expected slow pace is for me a key criteria to determine which horse I favour in this race. With Interchina Star expected to lead, he will enjoy an advantage. For Happy Valley specialist Ottimo, though he will be stepping up in distance, I think it should not be an issue if looking at his breeding and racing style. However, my favourite runner in this race is Ride With The Wind. His performance at Sha Tin in his last start might be a bit disappointing, but he’s ideally drawn from Gate 1 tonight and I think he could rebound from that defeat tonight. David Hall’s Happy Tumbler also showed nice progress last time when second to Little Dreams at Happy Valley. He will start from Gate 4 and I expect him to run a great race, too!
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