Back in midweek, I had a brief chance to get involved in a different sport when I did some cycling with top Hong Kong rider Wong Kam Po. The occasion was our reappointment of Ah Po as Ambassador for this year's Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Derby. This was my first cycling experience in 38 years and I must say I found it really enjoyable. I’d love to do a few more circuits on a bike when the chance arises.
During the same occasion, Ah Po and our leading apprentice jockey Marco Chui shared their cycling and riding experiences with each other. It’s nice to see athletes of these two sports exchange ideas, as there are a lot of similarities in terms of physical fitness, sportsmanship, tactical positioning and speed.
Before we look forward to seeing which four-year-old will become our Derby champion next month, there will again be more Group One action as our middle-distance elites will contest in the Hong Kong Gold Cup, the second leg of our Triple Crown Series, at Sha Tin tomorrow.
As some of you will remember well, many champion horses of old like River Verdon and Indigenous have been past winners of the Gold Cup. But last year's Gold Cup was undoubtedly one of the best of all time, as I'm sure all of you who witnessed the breathtaking duel between Vengeance Of Rain and Viva Pataca will agree. The high quality of the race was further underlined when both these great middle-distance champions went on to claim International Group One victories on their next runs, in the Dubai Sheema Classic and QE II Cup respectively. Adding to that, third place finisher Bullish Luck also went on to run third in the US$6 million Dubai World Cup, the best performance to date by a Hong Kong-based runner in this world's richest race.
With banking group Citi becoming our first title sponsor for the Hong Kong Gold Cup this year, I'm looking forward to another very exciting race at Sha Tin this Sunday. There is certainly a very mouthwatering clash in prospect once again, this time between Viva Pataca and Bullish Luck before they both possibly head for Dubai. Other promising runners like last year's Derby winner Vital King, Hong Kong Classic Mile champion Floral Pegasus and up-and-coming star Packing Winner will also be trying to break the dominance of this veteran pair. Viva Pataca is undoubtedly a top horse, but I’m sure that all eight horses in this exciting field will compete with equal determination tomorrow. I expect a slow pace in the Gold Cup but I think it should be a very fascinating race.
By the way, I wish to update you with some latest news about our Olympic equestrian events this summer. William Cornell, the team manager of the British Equestrian Team, has recently visited our Olympic Equestrian facilities at Sha Tin and Beas River. I'm glad to learn that he has praised our equestrian venues and horse care facilities as being top-class. The SAR's Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs Carrie Yau has also hailed the equestrian venues and supporting facilities built by the Club, saying they were of the highest international standard. Their positive comments have again given a huge boost to us and I simply can't wait to see the world's top equestrian athletes demonstrating their great techniques to the local public this August.
However, I have to offer my apology to some of my colleagues in Germany, who have earlier approached me about getting admission tickets for our equestrian events here in Hong Kong, as I actually have no extra tickets and have been unable to do them a favour.
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