So our international racing action at home this season has come to an end following the running of Champions Mile last Sunday. More than 24,000 racegoers were entertained by an exciting contest as Dan Excel, who had been knocking on the door repeatedly this season, finally landed a major prize. I must say that he was a deserving winner as he battled with great determination to take this 1600m event. I would like to congratulate the horse’s connections, especially the owner Mr Boehm who was winning his second Group 1 race after Happy Zero. I learnt that, right after the race, the Singapore Turf Club sent an invitation to the connections, inviting them to take part in the SIA Cup. To a certain extent this shows how keen the key racing jurisdictions are to attract star runners from the world’s top racing countries or regions, including Hong Kong, to their respective international events.
It appears that the horse will now join his stable mate, the APQEII Cup winner Military Attack, in going to Singapore. Having in mind the demands of travelling, it might be a tough task for Dan Excel to tackle the 2000m event there only two weeks after the Champions Mile. Anyway, let’s hope the horses enjoy an uneventful journey and smooth preparations.
I was happy to see a full field for the Queen Mother Memorial Cup on Sunday and that delight increased when the runners produced an outstanding race. It was a great finish, last year’s winner Dominant triumphing by a very short nose from Willie Cazals. The race forms a good step-up to the Champions and Chater Cup and hopefully the runners will produce the same excitement in that top-class event later this month.
As we stepped into the month of May a major arts festival will be held in the city, the Le French May co-hosted by the Consulate General of France and Alliance Francaise. The festival is in its 21st edition and it attracted more than 3 million participants and spectators over the years. I know that the focus of this year’s Le French May is on the particular theme of the 1920’s – a decade famous as a hot period for art, fashion and society. The festival will showcase a total of 18 exhibitions, 50 performances and 50 screenings in more than two months.
Being a major partner with the Consul General of France in hosting this festival for the second consecutive year, the Club through its Charities Trust has contributed a total sum of HK$6 million in supporting this year’s event. The Jean Cocteau exhibition – one of the four highlight programmes under our exclusive sponsorship – was opened on Monday. The exhibition, entitled Spirit of the 20th century Parisian scene, showcases various arts work, scripts and exhibits produced by Cocteau, one of the most renowned artists and novelists of his country in the last century.
Also, as part of our celebration for the Le French May, we are bringing the Gallic atmosphere to Happy Valley for our racegoers to enjoy. Starting with the first French-themed event there tonight, special French food treats prepared by Michelin-starred chefs from France will be available to racegoers, while specially invited artists are coming from the Bourgogne region to perform to us. I hope you will come along and soak up the atmosphere in the racecourse, and enjoy the activities there this evening.
In commemorating this special occasion, similar to the past few years, we will stage the Le French May Trophy and the France Galop Cup races among our eight-race card tonight. For the latter race, it is run as a Class 2 handicap over the distance of 1800m. The rating band is 90 to 70 which makes some horses from Class 3 eligible to race here. The expected good to slow pace should even give horses coming from the back of the field a chance especially in the latter part of the race meeting. Chater Dream should be well positioned behind the expected leaders Albiceleste and Shiny Day, with Turbo Jewellery and Racing Hero ideally placed. Jolly Victor will try to follow the likely favourite Turbo Jewellery who is working very well and try to run him down. Both horses, together with Lucky Forever, are in my view the major chances in this feature event. Racing Hero has improved since his last run and is a place chance here.
Comment
