I guess many of you watched the Jebsen Centenary Vase at our Sha Tin race meeting last Saturday. I was glad to see Mighty High – one of the horses I picked for the season – finally living up to my expectations by snatching this Hong Kong Group 3 event. It will now be interesting to see him competing in the Citibank Hong Kong Gold Cup in a fortnight's time. His stablemate Jacobee was a bit unlucky as he wasn’t helped by the pace in the race, but I think he will be better suited by the extra 200m for the Derby distance of 2000m.
It’s nice to have the rare chance of a relaxing weekend after Saturday’s meeting, so I took the opportunity to take some rest and watch the news and sports programmes. I was particularly interested to catch up on the latest developments from Egypt, which I'm sure many of you have been following closely. Now that former President Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave his post, I hope we will see the political unrest there being gradually eased.
I was saddened, however, to hear on some of the news reports that the Egyptian Museum was looted during the mass protests in Cairo. Local archaeologists said that a number of artefacts and ancient treasures had been stolen during the break-in, and a considerable number of others damaged.
This is a sad loss not just for Egypt but for the whole world, as historic items like these, some of which go back several millennia, can simply never be replaced or even restored to exactly what they were before. It also reminds us all about the importance of preserving our heritage in Hong Kong, so as to ensure our city’s history and legend wouldn’t be lost but would be further extended. The Club shares the same vision. It has been taking part in several heritage preservation and revitalisation programmes in Hong Kong, most prominently the Central Police Station project, so as to better preserve and present Hong Kong’s unique history and cultural heritage for our future generations.
Apart from these revitalisation projects, we can also understand more about past and present cultures through watching arts and music performances, many of which are rooted in the histories of their different countries.
The Club has given strong support to many different arts and cultural projects in Hong Kong over the years, including funding the establishment of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 1984. Through the Club’s Charities Trust, we have also sponsored the Hong Kong Arts Festival every year since 1974, with our total contributions now exceeding HK$190 million. Once again this year, we are happy to be a major sponsor of this renowned international arts festival, which will begin tomorrow and last for five weeks until 27 March.
In particular, three performances featuring eminent international artists will be designated this year as The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series. They are a concert of operatic arias by Italian mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli on 24 February, dance pieces by the world-famous New York City Ballet on 5 March, and a concert by Germany's Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Italian conductor Riccardo Chailly on 15 March. I hope both local and overseas audiences will appreciate the outstanding talents of these performers and the diversity of cultures they represent.
And please do remember that all these contributions through our Charities Trust are made possible by the continued success and sustainability of our horse racing operations. Tonight at Happy Valley we hope to see another healthy turnout for our midweek meeting, in which 1O1O Million Challenge top 10 contenders Holiday Sun and Amityship are among the field in the eight-race card. A win for either horse would give them the chance to move into the top three positions, so let’s see if they can add further fuel tonight to the final exciting stages of this year's Challenge.
Last year, the Club celebrated its 125th anniversary. Having presented exciting races and racecourse entertainment to all racing fans over the past century, we have played a very important part in motivating local equine sports development. Similarly, our Sports Road neighbour – the Hong Kong Football Club – has contributed to the promotion and development of local sports over the years. This year marks their 125th anniversary and to mark this milestone, a Hong Kong Football Club 125th Anniversary Cup race will be held at our race meeting tonight. May I wish everybody in the Football Club enjoy this very special evening, and for their continued success in the years to come.
For this trophy race, the expected slow pace should give horses on the speed an advantage. Almighty Windpower, Flying Supreme and Beauty Forever are most likely to be in the leading positions. I think in-form runner Flying Supreme would have the chance to finish in the top 3, but I’m not sure if he can handle the increase in distance to 1800m. Vitality Express should be in a good position and has previously handled the potential softer track. I would see how he runs this evening. The same applies to Soviet Pearl who will appreciate the step up to 1800m, and has a good soft track record. But Straight Forward is my top choice in this race. Despite coming from the back of the field, he showed terrific acceleration at his last start over the mile distance. He prefers a longer distance and has a proven record even on softer tracks, hopefully he would deliver another decent run tonight. 1O1O Million Challenge contender Holiday Sun only needs to carry a light weight this time. He will also have chance to get a close finish.
In the Rotary Centenary Challenge Cup, the expected good to slow pace should give an advantage to horses in the front of the field. Coming from a success over 1000m in his previous start, Good Boy Boy will start the race from Gate 2 and I think he could be in the lead or share it with other runners. Even it will be the first time for him to race over the distance of 1200m in Happy Valley. He won a 1200m race in Sha Tin last November, and I think he shouldn’t have an issue with the step up in distance. He has for me the runner with best chance to win in this race.
His main opponent is Glenealy Star from Gate 4 who likes the Valley distance of 1200m, and wouldn’t mind if the track would be on the softer side. For other runners, I like the recent forms of Fresh Air and Topping Light, but they have to overcome their wide draw of Gate 11 and Gate 9. That’s why they seem only be two outsiders in this race tonight.
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