I was delighted to see a big crowd of more than 68,000 people turn out for our 130th Anniversary Raceday at Sha Tin last Saturday. Their warm enthusiasm matched the day’s weather as the sun shone down on our celebrations. We had a fitting winner of the day’s feature event, too, as the 130th Anniversary Cup was won by Key Witness. The winning trainer Tony Cruz and owner Archie da Silva previously combined with legendary sprinter Silent Witness, so seeing these familiar racing silks claim victory in a feature race brought back many fond memories for racing fans.
We were equally pleased to welcome high government officials, community leaders and our NGO partners to the celebration that day. We took the occasion as an opportunity to announce our latest new initiatives, which we are very excited about. We will commit a sum of HK$500 million over a 5-year period on a career and life programme targeted at local youth. Also, we will partner with the Chinese University and the Baptist University, as well as the government, education, business sectors, and the NGOs, to launch various programmes to benefit those who are aged between 15 and 21. This will include extra training for teachers, professional counselling, and structured guidance to help young people set and achieve goals.
We hope all these programmes can further help our youngsters from diverse backgrounds to discover their interests and abilities, educate them on life and career choices, let them see their future and give them the confidence to navigate their own paths to achieve a fulfilling life. By implementing this programme we hope we can give them a helping hand in that sense.
But surely it’s a must for one to be very hardworking and diligent in their paths to success. Jockeys are no different as each of them had done a lot before they are to achieve good results in races or even go to the top. Our jockeys will continue to lock horns in our races at Happy Valley this evening.
Tonight marks the 45th consecutive year that we have featured the Hong Kong Club Challenge Cup, a Class 3 sprint at 1000 metres as Race 6 on the evening. A lively pace is expected with Fun ‘N’ Games, Triumphant Jewel and Roman Legend likely to push forward from their outside gates, along with newcomer Andnowurmine. Winfull Patrol will also be forwardly placed from his good draw and is a win and place chance tonight as he should get every chance. He has natural speed to be in close contention from the outset and comes off a good effort over the course and distance despite a wide draw last month.
Touch Go and St Yazin will both appreciate a fast tempo and I expect both horses to be making ground in the straight and they are solid place chances. Lucky Celebrity makes his first start at Happy Valley but has trialed over the course and this is a horse that has shown ability over his brief career. He, too, is a place chance.
Comment
