As all of you football fans know, the local football season ended last weekend with the Jockey Club’s close partner Kitchee crowned this season’s champions. Although the local league is entering the off season, there are some exciting times close at hand. At the end of this month two top Spanish teams, Villareal and Valencia, will come to Hong Kong to participate in an exhibition tournament. Meanwhile, those fans of Sweden’s ace player Zlatan Ibrahimovic may also have the chance to watch their idol showing off his skills, as his team Paris Saint-Germain is likely to come to Hong Kong in late-July. In addition, the possible visit of the Argentina national team in October as part of the celebration of the centenary anniversary of the Hong Kong Football Association, could well turn out to be the highlight of the local football scene this year.
So there are some great things for football fans to look forward to, but already this week we have had a notable footballing guest as I was pleased to offer a warm welcome to Dwight Yorke. The Manchester United legend is in the city once again to show his support to our youth football training programme. Following his former teammates Peter Schmeichel and Phil Neville, Dwight is the third former United star player to have visited Hong Kong over the past six months. We arranged for him to visit one of our local schools – the HKMA David Li Kwok Po College in West Kowloon – which is participating in the Jockey Club School Football Development Scheme. The scheme, which is run by the Club in partnership with Manchester United, aims at bringing professional football knowledge and international coaching standards to youth football training in Hong Kong. I am pleased to see that the SAR’s Secretary for Home Affairs Tsang Tak-sing also came to meet Dwight and showed his enthusiastic support for this event and the scheme.
Like the past few exhibition sessions with United stars, I was once again pleased to take part in the warm-ups and joined in an exhibition match with Dwight and the school’s football team. Dwight looks exceptionally fit and has kept his perfect shape as a footballer. And it’s also good to see that the team featured youngsters from Hong Kong’s ethnic minorities playing alongside local Hong Kong children. It is important that racial harmony exists in our society and it was good to see the role football can play in bringing people together from all cultural backgrounds and all walks of life.
An example was being that learning the language at the pitch, some of the non-Chinese members in the school team can speak more fluently in Cantonese than I did. One of them was the school team’s captain who is himself an United supporter, and his father a British who was born in Manchester. I learnt that he was so excited that he could not sleep well over the past week. Another team member who is an Indian descendant told me that although he himself is a fan of Manchester City, he was also thrilled to play together with Dwight on such occasion.
Turning our attention from the star footballer to our star racehorses, the four top Hong Kong runners are seemingly all ready for the two top races in Singapore tomorrow. At Thursday’s barrier draw it was a case of mixed fortune. Last year’s KrisFlyer International Sprint winner Lucky Nine drew well again this time, but it was not the same story for Military Attack as the SIA Cup defending champion will start from a wide draw on Sunday.
Having said that, I’m pleased to learn that all of the horses are doing well – I hear that they look ready for action. Lucky Nine has just been ticking over since he worked early in the week but the three John Moore-trained horses galloped on the turf yesterday morning. I understand that Joao Moreira flew down there to partner Sterling City in a solo spin and the horse moved well. Joao also rode Military Attack, and I understand that the horse pleased connections with a smooth effort to close upsides Dan Excel with the two stable mates moving nicely enough without being asked to do anything too strenuous. It’s now all systems go.
Before we get to Singapore’s big event, there are 10 races at Sha Tin racecourse today, with the feature event being the ATV Cup. With a rating band from 120 to 95, this Class 1 handicap, which is run as Race 8 on the C+3 Course, has attracted a top class field. With the rainfall in the last few days, the track today should be on the yielding side which will likely entice some riders to direct their horses to the outside rail in search for better ground. The pace is expected to be good with Helene Spirit working early to get across and lead. Penglai Xianzi can either join him or take the box seat on the inside of Super Lifeline or Pleasure Gains. Real Specialist, Flash Knight, Destined For Glory and possibly Secret Sham can be well placed. Flagship Shine may race wide with Rewarding Hero and Packing Whiz have to come from the back.
The four-year-olds have done extremely well this season and are likely to be very competitive in this event. Secret Sham is working very well and has won in Australia on heavy going which makes him my first choice. Another four-year-old runner Super Lifeline is working well too. With the light weight he is with place chance at least. Rewarding Hero, Pleasure Gains and Flash Knight have both had form on yielding ground and should not be underestimated. Packing Whiz is working very well and the return to 1600m makes him competitive for a place.
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