I trust all of you football fans out there are enjoying the World Cup as much as I am! It has been a fascinating tournament so far, and it’s still such early days. All of the 32 participating teams have at least played their first group match and that includes my home team Germany. I was utterly delighted to see Die Mannschaft put together a virtuoso display in their opening game. Those first matches can be tricky, as we have seen, but Germany dominated for most of the contest and trounced Portugal 4-0. The result went beyond what I had expected, and with our striker Thomas Muller scoring a hat-trick, I would say that it was a bit of a dream start.
Apart from the national team there was another piece of positive news regarding another German sportsman on Monday, as it was reported that former Formula One champion Michael Schumacher is no longer in a coma and has been moved from hospital in France to a Swiss hospital to continue his rehabilitation. Given the severity of his head injuries and the time he had been in a coma, it is clear that he will endure a lengthy rehabilitation process. Like all sports fans around the world, I’m just glad to hear that Schumi is making progress and I hope he can make a good recovery.
Motor racing and horse racing are both speed contests and last night some of the fastest horses in the world were in action during our simulcast of the King’s Stand Stakes. I was pleased to see Sole Power, runner-up in our LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint last December, made a late barnstorming run to achieve back-to-back success in the King’s Stand Stakes. By the way, the performance of Kingman in the St James’s Palace Stakes was equally impressive. He’s a real deal and I think this three-year-old will be a key contender in various top mile events in Europe this year.
The Royal Ascot race meeting enjoys a prestigious status the world over. It was first staged in 1711, so it has a long history; it is the Queen’s very own meeting, too; and it is a carnival that brings together many of Europe’s finest racehorses to compete in a whole range of races. Of course some of those are fiercely contested handicaps, which are very popular with racing fans who love to test their skills and luck by betting in these big-field contests.
Speaking of betting, yesterday we announced the official formation of the Asian-African Tote Association, with our Club’s Executive Director, Customer and Marketing, Richard Cheung elected as its inaugural president. During the Asian Racing Conference we discussed the importance of wagering as the lifeblood of our sport, and the establishment of such an organisation fits with that assertion.
Working together with wagering operators in other racing jurisdictions such as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Singapore, we will endeavour to make further improvements in areas such as technological advancements in totalisator and wagering operations, sustainable funding of the racing industry, and customer and marketing initiatives. While the formation of this Association again reflects the Club’s leading position in international racing, we hope that by exchanging our experiences on various issues with each other, we can make things better and continue improving, in order to meet the challenges and competition from both inside and outside the racing industry.
In terms of our racing development it’s also vital for us to have the support of racing fans. Every year before the season ends we host the Most Popular Horse and Jockey voting campaign for racing fans, giving you all the chance to cast your votes and show your appreciation to the top local horses, jockeys and overseas horses. This year the voting period will end on Sunday, with Designs On Rome, Joao Moreira and Lord Kanaloa currently leading the polls in the local horse, jockey and overseas horse categories respectively. If you still haven’t taken part in the campaign, please join in before the deadline and make your vote count. By the way, this afternoon we are going to announce the list of final nominees for the Champion Awards this season. So you can check the Club’s website later today and see if your favoured horses are named to contest the various year-end award categories and the top honour of Horse of the Year.
Our midweek races tonight will again be at Sha Tin, with the first three races on turf, and the subsequent five races on the All Weather Track. The Chun Shek Handicap is a Class 3 on the All Weather track over 1200m and is run with an extended handicap range from 85 to 60, which makes some Class 2 horses eligible for running against Class 3 opposition. The pace should be good with Ambitious King who has early speed to get across, but may be held off the rail by Master Kochanwong. Super Abundante has speed to contest the lead but is likely to avoid any early battle due to stamina concern. Speedygonzalez and Smart Man should be well placed.
My favourite is Master Kochanwong who has an ideal draw of Gate 1 and with Douglas Whyte on board. This will also be Douglas’ 10,000th ride in Hong Kong and I think it will not be easy to beat. Smart Man who is working well will be his main opponent, with Ambitious King and Caga Force competing for a place.
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