Every so often we get sharp reminders of how fragile life can be, underlining the importance of treasuring our relationships with families and friends. This was brought home to me again last Wednesday when I was watching news coverage of the tragic fire in Ma Tau Wai Road, Central Kowloon, which hit residents of a tightly-packed apartment building in the early hours of the morning.
Firemen were quickly on the scene and helped lead most of the residents to safety – but after the blaze was put out, they discovered three bodies from the same family. Another female from the other family, who sustained serious injuries in the incident, was deceased at the hospital later.
All of us at the Club were deeply saddened to hear this news. It was especially heartbreaking to see the reaction of the father of the household, who was himself badly injured, when he learned that his pregnant wife and two children had perished, as he believed they had managed to escape safely ahead of him.
Concerned for the families of the deceased, we promptly contacted Social Welfare Department to discuss how we could help meet their immediate needs, and subsequently made HK$100,000 grants to each of the two families through our Jockey Club Emergency Relief Fund. We cannot bring their loved ones back, but at least we can relieve them of financial worries at this very difficult time. We will keep in close contact with SWD to see whether any further help is needed in the coming weeks.
Getting back to racing, as in our races at Sha Tin last Sunday, jockey Douglas Whyte made a memorable comeback from his three-day suspension by notching up a staggering five winners. He also finished runner-up on four of his other five mounts of the day and a close fourth on his remaining ride, amassing a total of 84 Jockey Challenge points, which comfortably sets a new record.
As it happens, the old record of 72 was set by Brett Prebble almost exactly a year ago, on 20 June 2010 when he rode an astonishing six winners at Happy Valley to put Douglas under heavy pressure for last season's Champion Jockey title. While Brett still has the record of six wins in a meeting to himself, it is certainly a rare achievement for a jockey to collect 10 first-four placings from 10 rides.
Intense heat and high humidity appeared to have taken its toll on some riders last Sunday. Douglas could probably be one of them, especially as he needed to make the weight of 115 pounds in riding Sichuan Success, before we saw this horse-jockey partnership winning in the Prince Jewellery & Watch Premier Cup. It was learnt that after the race, when he was asked if he felt dehydrated, Douglas replied that it’s okay and he was doing his best to maintain a top condition, and he remained to be comfortable with his remaining rides. He didn’t show any sign of fatigue in later races, as he managed to ride another winner aboard Pure Champion in Race 11, which helped him to complete his five-timer in the race meeting.
I think these all showed that Douglas's determination is as strong as ever to win the Jockeys’ Premiership title for an 11th consecutive season, and few would now bet against him doing that, as he currently holds a 21-win lead over Brett with only five meetings remaining. It also keeps him in with a good chance of reaching the magic figure of 100 winners once again, as he needs only a further eight wins to get there.
Douglas is booked for seven rides tonight, including runners such as Pillowin, Great Renown and Million Darling who all boast decent form records. It will be interesting to see if he can further build his lead with some strong performances at the Valley.
Just one cloud on the horizon, though, is the fact that a tropical cyclone is currently affecting Hong Kong, which could bring some heavy rainfall during the day and make the going rather softer. So please pay attention to the latest weather reports when you're studying on the races tonight.
In the Celebration Handicap, it’s expected to be run at a good to slow pace which favours horses close to the front of the field. It will be good to watch the track performance with the rain tonight, but I assume that this will not change the advantage generally enjoyed by frontrunners, and I would look for horses which have a proven soft track record.
Loads Of Joy should take the lead in this race, and Master Rio should be in an ideal position following him. Master Rio is one of the main chances for me, especially because he is in good form and has a proven record performing on a soft track. Windicator Power is another in-form runner with decent chance, but he’s unproven in the wet in Hong Kong and Gate 9 is not an ideal draw for him. Showtime is for me the horse to beat as he’s working well and likely to be easily settled at midfield. On top of that, he has a good performance record on a rain-affected track, too. As an outside chance I see High Return with his good past race record and some wet ground performance.
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