Last Sunday we saw two quality pattern races won by a pair of up-and-coming four-year-olds in Able Friend and Divine Ten. The rainy conditions and the softish track posed a potential challenge for the runners but both passed their tests admirably. With his victory in the HKG2 Chairman’s Trophy, Able Friend had a nice prep run ahead of the Champions Mile next month, while Divine Ten put himself on the cusp of the top sprinters bracket by winning the HKG3 Bauhinia Sprint Trophy, his first ever start at Pattern race level. Hopefully we will see both horses maintaining their upward trajectories in their next outings.
It’s always pleasing to see the emergence of talented young horses. Their rise through the ranks is exciting to follow, and while each horse’s natural talent is of course vital to its progression, a huge part of any horse reaching its full potential is down to the great efforts made by their support team – the trainer and the jockey, as well as the stable work team. This support network, striving for the horse’s benefit, enables our rising stars to advance to the top echelons in Hong Kong racing.
The Club has done something similar with regard to local football development. Over the past two years we’ve funded and developed a series of youth football training programmes to help our young players progress towards reaching their full potential. In collaboration with the Manchester United Soccer School and Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, we’ve just launched the latest programme – the Jockey Club Youth Football Leadership Scheme.
I went along to the programme’s announcement ceremony earlier in the week and I was delighted to be in attendance. The Scheme, with its first year as a pilot, will take on 45 young people from Yuen Long, North and Southern districts, and I was able to see how this unique scheme combines football training with its objective of nurturing future leaders, all in the same programme. As the programme’s co-organiser rightly described which I fully agreed, this is a holistic leadership training programme designed to provide our youth with the opportunity to acquire not only technical and tactical skills from the MU Soccer School, but also to enhance their sportsmanship, co-operation, teamwork, problem-solving, self-confidence and leadership capacities.
At the ceremony, I chatted with our two star mentors, Hong Kong’s first Olympic gold medalist Lee Lai-shan, and famous media presenter Lawrence Cheng. San San and Lawrence will both attend workshops where they will share their valuable personal experiences and no doubt plenty of inspirational ideas with our participants.
Another mentor is coach Chris O’Brien from the United Soccer School, who will offer elementary coaching courses to all participants. Sports academic Dr Louie Lobo from the Baptist University will also provide his professional insights as an advisor to our scheme. A few scheme participants who achieve outstanding performances will even be given the chance to travel to Manchester to observe and engage in Manchester United’s community football activities this summer. I want to say a big thanks to everyone involved for the tremendous support they have given to this programme. With this training and guidance, hopefully these young people will not only become leaders on the football pitch, but also leaders in their communities, inspiring others in their daily lives and working to achieve good outcomes for the future.
On the subject of Manchester United, tonight they will face Bayern Munich in the second leg of their Champions League quarterfinal. In last week’s first leg they didn’t let their fans down as they played quite well and managed to get a 1-1 draw against the defending champions at Old Trafford – having said that, they must score in Germany tonight if they are to have any chance of proceeding to the semi-final stage. I plan to watch the match to see how they get on – that is assuming I manage to stay up until so late at night!
Before the football let’s enjoy ourselves at Happy Valley this evening. Among the eight races on the card, the Sports Club Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup, a Class 3 event over 1650m, is featured as Race 6 of the night. The pace of this race is expected to be moderate, which will make it more difficult for horses coming from the back as the final section should be strong. Holmes Legend comes into the race having won his last two starts in this class at the Valley and that makes him the deserving favourite. He is well drawn and has the services of Douglas Whyte but must shoulder 132 pounds, which makes him a bit vulnerable. Formula Won has yet to win in 13 attempts since arriving from England, but tonight may be his night. He has run well over the course and distance in the past and should be positioned around midfield with every opportunity to put in his patented closing kick over the closing stages. He is an each way chance for me.
Invictus comes into the race in good form and will be well positioned, most likely in the box seat, from his good draw behind a modest tempo. Spinning Dancer is another interesting contender after a big run at long odds in a similar race three weeks ago. The pace may be against him tonight as he will likely to be at last in the early stages, but his previous effort was eye catching and he has the potential to put in a solid closing section. Both horses are place chances in my view.
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