At our Jockey Club Community Day last Saturday we saw Bear Hero showing great form to gain back-to-back successes in the day's feature event, the HKJC Community Trophy. For me, it was an equally rewarding day off the track, as we were joined for the afternoon's events by more than 150 community partners, including Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung, Chairman of the Elderly Commission Professor Alfred Chan and Director of Social Welfare Patrick Nip, as well as many other government officials, NGO representatives and prominent figures from political, academic and business circles.
I was delighted to see such a large turnout, as besides giving us the chance to bring these many valued partners all together, our annual Community Day provides an opportunity to thank them for their tireless dedication to Hong Kong over the years and their enormous contributions to society.
During the afternoon we announced our latest initiative to enhance elderly care, a HK$110 million Charities Trust donation to launch the Jockey Club Elderly Facilities Modernisation Scheme. Complementing the Improvement Programme of Elderly Centres announced in the Budget in February, it will help to upgrade facilities of about 250 public elderly centres in Hong Kong, eventually benefiting more than 200,000 senior citizens. Incidentally, the HK$900m cost of the Government programme is being drawn from the Lotteries Fund, which is mainly derived from our Mark Six operations, so the Club is already an indirect contributor to this project.
While the primary goal of our community donations has always been to enhance the quality of life of Hong Kong people, we also believe that our contributions should not be confined by frontiers when there are urgent needs to be met. You may recall that in 2008, after large parts of Sichuan Province were devastated by a massive earthquake, the Club pledged an unprecedented HK$1 billion to support reconstruction projects there.
Earlier this week, I joined Club Chairman Brian Stevenson and two of his fellow Club Stewards on a special visit to Sichuan to mark the official opening of the first four Club-sponsored projects that have now been completed.
One of these is the Sichuan HKJC Olympic School in the town of Dujiangyan, one of the worst-affected areas. Sichuan Province has a long history of producing top Chinese athletes, but many of its sports training facilities were destroyed by the earthquake. This school project, built with Club funding of RMB135 million, will not only offer specialised sports training programmes to more than 4,500 students, but will also combine it with academic education. This innovative teaching model will create a new and more competitive generation of athletes while giving them wider choices in their future careers, setting a new standard for Sichuan and the nation.
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As you may know, Mr Stevenson is as passionate about rugby as he is about horse racing, and before the opening ceremony on Monday, he got the chance to try out his skills alongside the Sichuan women’s rugby team. For my part, I took part in a demo session held inside the school’s newly-built integrated indoor training facilities, playing badminton with a few students and trainees. Though I would also like to take a German-Sichuan football exchange at the school, I was eventually invited to refresh and show my volleyball skills with Director of the Sichuan Provincial Sports Bureau Zhu Ling – previously a top volleyball player and former Olympic gold medallist who had played alongside iconic Chinese volleyball star Lang Ping in the Chinese national team at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics. I have to admit that I was no match for Zhu’s outstanding skills, but what matters is that our contributions will bring hopes and dreams to so many future athletes studying there, contributing to China's future sports success. In due course, it's also our plan to establish exchange programmes there for elite Hong Kong athletes.
During the trip, I had the chance to meet many other people from different walks of life in Sichuan, and I was deeply impressed and touched with the ways they have overcome their difficulties and rebuilt their lives since the earthquake. We hope that the three further Club-sponsored projects that have now been completed – the Sichuan Provincial 8-1 Rehabilitation Centre, Mianyang 3rd City Hospital HKJC Medical Complex, and Mianyang Youxian Zhongxing HKJC Junior Middle School – will not only provide them with top-class medical, healthcare and education support, but also help Sichuan province be better prepared for any future natural disasters.
I am now back in Hong Kong, and will be enjoying tonight's racing at Happy Valley as usual. Among the eight races on the card, the St George’s Challenge Cup is a Class 3 race run over 1200m. I think Bullish King will push forward to overcome his draw in Gate 8. With his pace advantage, he should be unpressured to lead in an expected good to slow pace. The expected pace should favour horses in the front of the field, especially with the C+3 course giving additional advantage to horses in the lead or close to it. Bullish King is working nicely and under such circumstances, he will be a place chance for me. My Goal should be well positioned out of Gate 1 and is working well. With Douglas Whyte on board, he will be one of the main chances. My pick of the race is Turf Magic who should be well placed in midfield, but will need a little bit of luck to get a clear run. The same applies to Glenealy Star who is in good form but being positioned in midfield and is another place chance for me.
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