I've had a busy few days in Beijing, joining with Stewards to host dinners for Hong Kong deputies of the National People's Congress and Hong Kong members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, an annual event which is a great opportunity for deputies and members to catch up with each other. It was a particular pleasure to entertain them at the Club's home away from home, the Beijing Clubhouse. We took the opportunity to explain some of the Club's recent achievements, including the outstanding performances of Hong Kong horses in the world rankings, with 23 horses now listed.
We were especially pleased to share the good news that the Club was recently ranked number six in the World Charity Index 2015 for its charitable contributions - an accolade which we share with everyone in Hong Kong. All of this, we explained, was the result of the Club's unique integrated model which encompasses world-class racing and the channeling of betting demand through the provision of responsible wagering - which enables the Club to contribute substantially to the community through tax payments, charitable donations, and through the provision of 24,000 employment opportunities.
It is said that big ideas sometimes grow from the smallest of seeds. Recently we received some great news about one of our 'seeds'.
Eric Chen is a Jockey Club Scholar - one of over 400 undergraduates the Club has supported through the Jockey Club Scholarships to study at universities in Hong Kong since 1998. He has been singled out by Forbes Magazine as one of Asia's "30 Under 30" in its manufacturing and energy category for 2016.
The recognition is for Eric's pioneering work to develop technology to test and certify the safety of food, drink and cosmetics - a big issue in this part of the world. The technology is now being used by leading F&B companies, cosmetics groups and government departments.
It's great to think the Club has been able to play some part in Eric's success. My sincere congratulations to him.
Last weekend, we saw Gun Pit and Rich Tapestry run on Super Saturday at Meydan. It was a shade disappointing to see Rich Tapestry cross the line third in the Mahab Al Shimaal, but Gun Pit proved he's a real deal on the international dirt level, defeating some other top dirt stars in the field to claim a game second in the G1 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3.
I have to say Gun Pit's run was particularly encouraging. The track in Dubai was favouring horses on the lead, in fact every winner on the night led every step of the way, and many of them only lengthened their leads late in the race. Regardless of the results, this Hong Kong duo will be joined by more runners from Hong Kong when they all take on the rest of the world in the Dubai World Cup meeting later this month.
I'm sure many of our racing fans may remember that Gun Pit was one of the runners in the BMW Hong Kong Derby 12 months ago. He finished out of frame behind Luger, who won it in a race record time last year. We can witness the latest Derby winner at Sha Tin on Sunday week and today, we unveiled the list of 14 selected runners that will compete in this HK$18 million HKG1 event on 20 March.
Sun Jewellery is definitely a leader of the pack, in line for an unprecedented clean sweep following his Classic Mile and Classic Cup wins. But if one takes the highly exciting finish in the Classic Cup as reference, it's still far from certain and other runners will still have every chance to dethrone him. It will be interesting to see how they prepare this once-in-a-lifetime event.
Racing returns to the Valley tonight, and we will also be hosting the finale of our Wines in the Valley meeting this season. For the eight races of the evening, the seventh race is the Fenwick Handicap, a Class 2 event over 1200m to be over the A course at the Valley, and it has drawn a highly competitive group.
The pace looks to be good to fast with likely front runners being Imperial Champion and Hella Hedge, drawn wide but under the apprentice allowance for Kei Chiong. Otherwise, there are many horses who like to race towards the front, but are likely to be outpaced early, and will end up in midpack. Those include Turf Sprint, Perpetual Treasure, Lucky Year, Happy Yeah Yeah and Bullish Friend. Secret Command and Country Melody are two who will do their running from off the pace, and both are working well for this race.
For me, Lucky Year is my main win and place chance. He has been superb at Happy Valley in two tries and only carried five pounds more than his previous event, both wins coming over the A course at this distance, one with tonight's jockey of Joao Moreira. They have negotiated a trip from barrier ten in the past, and Moreira will have to do that again. Secret Command is winless at Happy Valley, but has two second placings. Well drawn this evening, he is a strong placing chance along with Country Melody.
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