I'm sure you all admire the speed and athleticism of our horses on the racetrack, but I can tell you that this wonderful creature can also play a starring role in the world of arts and entertainment. All Hong Kong people will soon have the chance to experience this side of horses for themselves, as the French equestrian theatre company Zingaro is coming to Hong Kong next month, to give a six-week series of performances jointly presented by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust and the Hong Kong Arts Festival.
This is the first time that Zingaro, whose performances contain elements of both circus and theatre, have visited Hong Kong. With riders and horses showing their great techniques and excellent skills in their performances, I’m sure the show will inspire you all and your families to take a different angle in appreciating horses.
In all forms of equine sport and entertainment, you can appreciate the close bond between riders and their horses. In equestrian sports, it requires perfect understanding and co-operation between rider and horse to perform the intricate jumping, trotting and cantering moves.
Similarly in the sport of horse racing, many of you enjoy a lot seeing our racehorses perform to their best, and our jockeys show off their fascinating riding skills. But I believe what impresses you all the most must be the seamless co-operation and tacit understanding shown between jockeys and horses in races. It's their skills and speed in these highly competitive races that make our racing sport so charismatic and attractive.
Tomorrow, we can again look forward to seeing some well-established partnerships between our elite horses and jockeys in two Group One races at Sha Tin – the Citi Stewards' Cup and Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Classic Mile. With the races being the first leg of the Citi Triple Crown series and Mercedes-Benz 4-year-old classic series respectively, it will be interesting to see which horse-jockey partnership can emulate the feat of the mighty combination between River Verdon and John Marshall in winning the Hong Kong Triple Crown series in 1993/94 season, and that of Olympic Express and Weichong Marwing for the four-year-old classic double in 2002.
I am expecting Never Look Back and Brett Prebble, Good Ba Ba and Olivier Doleuze will again demonstrate a perfect partnership between horses and jockeys in the Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Classic Mile (Race 7) and the Citi Stewards' Cup (Race 8) respectively. On top of these two forward-looking Group One races, I would also keep on eye on the performance of Joy and Fun in the last race.
Comment
