One of the things I enjoy about my job is that I regularly have opportunities to represent the Club at various community events and activities. Last week, I attended the countdown ceremony for the 4th Hong Kong Games, an event in which the Club has involvement as a major sponsor, and while there I was able to meet some of the outstanding local athletes and games ambassadors. Then on Monday I paid a visit to Tuen Mun to attend the opening ceremony of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Arts Biennale 2013, which is hosted by the Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation (HKYAF).
We have enjoyed a close collaboration with HKYAF in recent years, most prominently through the three-year Point-to-Point Site Specific Art Project, which received tremendous feedback from more than 50,000 visitors and students. This time we decided to take further by donating HK$4.27 million through the HKJC Charities Trust, to support the foundation in organising the project on an even larger scale.
At Monday’s event I had the chance to work together with a few young artists and teenagers to participate in art jamming about Safari. I was invited to role play the part of an adventurer and we all acted and cheered together. I had a lot of fun and it was a really enjoyable experience for all of us. Apart from that quite a lot of other students and teenagers are also among the attendees that day. Some of them had the opportunities to engage in art play, while many others took the time to look at the art works displayed in the venue. It’s a delight to see them having these enjoyable moments and I hope the event will help them to develop their interests in different art forms, as well as further enhancing their creativity and cultural awareness.
Joining those young people as they learned about the arts sector, engaged in new cultural experiences and began developing new skills, I was put in mind of those young horses in racing that come to Hong Kong and naturally gain considerable improvement as they gather experience in routine training, as well as in races. One of those potential star young horses shone in front of racing fans when he making his first career start at Happy Valley last Sunday. The horse was Mizani and he made some amends for the disappointment of being withdrawn from the Derby with a minor injury. Although he hopped up for a slow start in his race on Sunday, and remained last when turning for home, the four-year-old displayed a thunderous turn of foot and bravely weaved through gaps between runners to win the race. He remains unbeaten in Hong Kong after his victory, but I think more important is the impressive manner of his latest win.
Although Mizani was not in the Champions Mile selected runners’ list that we announced today, I’m sure we will see him in big races before too long. As he continues his learning curve, it is left to his stablemate and Hong Kong Classic Mile winner Gold-Fun to lead the four-year-old charge against the established older star milers on 5 May. I shall continue to pay attention to his progress in the coming weeks, along with the progress of the other entrants for the premier mile contest in the lead-up to the big race.
Before that, let’s turn our attention to our races at Happy Valley tonight. The Hong Kong Rugby Football Union Cup is run as a Class 2 over 2200m. The pace is expected to be on the slow side which tends to favour horses in the front of the field, but with this longer distance race stamina is likely to be more important. Despite the fact that we have only 10 starters in this race, it is not easy to predict their running positions as not many of them run over such a distance, at least in their careers in Hong Kong. Many horses have been on pace over 1800m but it would be unknown if they would apply the same tactics over 2200m.
Mighty High is likely to go forward with Best Show and Lucky Forever joining him. Endowing, Mr Medici, as well as Real Generous and Victor Delight should be well placed behind the leaders, with Sunny Ying, Willie Cazals and Beauty Touch further back. If referring to his past overseas performances and prime form recently, Victor Delight should not have no issue for staying the distance. He is working very well and is for me a win and place chance. Endowing is a real stayer and won over course and distance. He ran a terrific race in the BMW Hong Kong Derby and with his excellent work he is a win and place chance too. Willie Cazals is Group 2-placed in Italy over 2200m and should have no problem with the 2200m distance at Happy Valley. He’s showing improvement in his work and should be a place chance at least. Mr Medici is coming back to form and is a place chance too.
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