It was a great pleasure to join Financial Secretary John Tsang this morning at the awards ceremony of the SCMP Student of the Year, which is sponsored by the Club for the third consecutive year. Here we honoured the achievements of Hong Kong’s most outstanding students who have excelled in science, language, sports, music, the visual arts, and in contributing to the community. Nine winners were selected out of 27 finalists drawn from a total of 460 nominations. I was deeply impressed by their focus on excellence and their passion to achieve their very best. In fact, this “can-do spirit” is the quality needed by all future leaders of our community.
At the Club we see our charitable donations as an investment in the future of Hong Kong. And there is no better investment than in our young people - the future leaders of our community. This is why the Club is putting such a strong focus on youth development. For example, the Jockey Club Youth Football Development Programme utilises football training to develop the all-round physical, mental and social well-being of Hong Kong youngsters. We are already seeing a remarkable transformation in many of our participants. The same goes for our HK$500 million Clap for Youth @ JC programme, a career and life planning initiative designed to help youngsters identify their potential and map out their future direction. Some 200,000 young people will benefit.
The Club has also produced many home-grown jockeys through our successful Apprentice Jockeys’ School. New apprentices undergo nine months of a foundation programme and then begin two years of intermediate training, which includes an attachment to different stables, a racing certificate qualification, passing an English assessment and then at least 20 barrier trials before they are sent overseas for at least 18 months. We are firmly committed to training the next generation of jockeys.
Tony Cruz was among the first batch of graduates from the school in 1973, and he has proven incredibly successful, both during his time as a jockey and currently as a trainer. In fact, Tony is now just ten wins away from achieving the 2,000-win mark when combining the tally for his riding and training career in Hong Kong (946 as a jockey / 1,044 as a trainer).
Tony is just one of many success stories as the Club has nurtured a significant list of home-grown racing talents in recent years. Matthew Chadwick stands-out recently with his back-to-back wins aboard California Memory in the 2011 and 2012 Hong Kong Cup alongside his Silver Saddle award in the 2012 Shergar Cup. Alex Lai was another home-grown jockey who had overseas success when he partnered Ultra Fantasy for a win in the 2010 G1 Sprinters Stakes in Japan. So did Derek Leung and Alvin Ng who each won the Asian Young Guns Challenge respectively in 2010 and 2012.
In all, the ten freelance jockeys and two apprentice jockeys in our current jockeys’ room have amassed 2,100 wins between them. Considering the world-class jockey line-up we have, and the top class expat riders they compete against at every meeting, I think having all these outstanding achievements have been absolutely phenomenal.
For our new generation, many of you see our two newest apprentices Jack Wong and Kei Chiong doing well in their early days. We also have a few apprentice jockey trainees receiving training in Australia and New Zealand. Looking at the statistics of our apprentices up through the middle of February, Dylan Mo is the most experienced with almost 450 rides. He was previously based in South Africa but has since transferred to New Zealand and has ridden a total of 36 wins in both countries. Close behind is Shenny Chan who has 35 wins to his name while based in Queensland, Australia. Victor Wong is also there, accruing 26 wins in Tasmania from nearly 300 rides.
Overseas training has always been a very important part of our racing trainee programme, as we believe this experience will definitely be beneficial to the personal development of these young home-grown riders.
Also on this morning, the 25 horses going to auction at the Hong Kong International Sale breezed at Sha Tin in front of a sizable crowd of potential buyers, and we wish them all the best of luck in their bidding next Friday. Tomorrow at Sha Tin we host the Singapore Turf Club Trophy and we also bid farewell and “Happy Retirement” to the great sprinter, Lucky Nine. The occasion is fitting as two of his biggest wins came in Singapore, landing the KrisFlyer International Sprint twice and experienced international glory on home turf winning the 2011 Hong Kong Sprint. Lucky Nine was a true racing warrior and we wish him the best!
The Merlion Handicap is the sporting highlight tomorrow and is run as a Class 2 with an extended rating band from 105 to 80 on the All Weather Track.
The pace is expected to be good to slow with Pablosky going forward over this extended trip. Twin Delight and Sichuan Vigour should track the early pace while Fight Hero could be in the pace mix too. Jun Huo is at risk of being wide with Lord Sinclair too. Eroico and Circuit Landshould be towards the rear.
Pablosky is working very well and should be ideally positioned in the race but the 1650m could stretch his stamina. He is still a place chance for me. I like Circuit Land more even though he has to come from the back of the field, but he is capable of running very fast last sections. Sichuan Vigour was disappointing last time out and I would not leave him out. Jun Huo goes up in class but he is a 1650m specialist and is a place chance for me.
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