While I was in Melbourne, I was lucky enough to watch Hong Kong races live in my hotel room through the Sky Channel after returning from Flemington Racecourse, and I was pleased to hear the good news that our betting turnover at Happy Valley's Tuesday meeting reached $777 million. This is indeed an encouraging figure for us.
I only stayed in Australia for a few days but I can tell you that the racing atmosphere both inside and outside Flemington Park was awesome. After the severe battering that the equine flu outbreak has given Australian's racing industry, which almost led to this year's Melbourne Cup day being abandoned, I could feel that people there enjoyed this year's race all the more. To me, this is a strong reflection of their enthusiasm and passion for racing as a sport.
Although the Michael Rodd-ridden stayer Efficient won this 3,200 metre race in spectacular fashion, it was the post-race comments made by owner Lloyd Williams that really raised my eyebrows.
He said he still rated Vengeance Of Rain, the horse he formerly raced as Subscribe but sold to Hong Kong when it was still a two-year-old, as the best horse he had ever owned. Mr Williams' comments further underline the quality and world-class status of our reigning Horse of the Year and the quality of Hong Kong racing. I also talked to Luca Cumani, trainer of Melbourne Cup second placegetter Purple Moon, after the race, and was delighted to learn from Luca his interest in bringing his horse to contest the Hong Kong International Vase in 2008.
Vengeance Of Rain has been enjoying a spell in New Zealand since June, but is now back in full training and had an easy win in last Tuesday's barrier trial. He is set to run his warm-up race in the Hong Kong International Mile trial on 17 November. In the meantime, his arch-rival Viva Pataca will be running his second race of the season in tomorrow's Cathay Pacific International Cup Trial at Sha Tin. The form of both horses is improving and I believe these two will remain the top contenders for the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup next month.
Besides Viva Pataca in the Cup Trial race, I will be interested to see how the South African horse Fearless performs tomorrow at the races.
By the way, I attended the final round of the World Cup jumping qualifiers at Beas River last Sunday before leaving for Melbourne and was pleased to see the competition was of such a high standard. I was especially glad to see Hong Kong's own Kenneth Cheng emerge as the winner and hope he can successfully earn qualification for the Olympic equestrian events, so that he can compete in front of a home crowd at our Olympic equestrian venues at Sha Tin next summer.
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