Just two months after trainer John Moore attained the amazing feat of 1,000 career wins in Hong Kong, our seven-time champion jockey Douglas Whyte created a further new chapter in Hong Kong's racing history last weekend. He became the first jockey to surpass the 1,000-win mark in Hong Kong after scoring a four-timer at Sha Tin on Sunday.
The Club presented him with 10 specially commissioned and framed gold coins to commemorate this remarkable achievement. It has taken this South African horseman just 11 seasons to reach this milestone, which when you think about it, means he has averaged more than 90 winners a year.
Though some might argue that Whyte has had the benefit of horses with good chances in many of his races, I think this landmark actually shows the results of his hardworking. It's clear that his winners have not all come easily or merely through luck. Rather, they reflect his diligence and determination to strive for excellence throughout his riding career in Hong Kong.
Like Whyte's passion for the sport of horse racing over the years, the Club has a dedication for contributing to the community and local charities. In addition to donating well over than HK$1 billion a year directly to charitable and community projects, the Club is a major contributor to the public purse through its huge betting duty payments.
Inland Revenue Commissioner Alice Lau was reported on Monday as saying that in 2007/08 fiscal year, betting duty accounted for some HK$13.04 billion of the total HK$200.6 billion tax revenue received, an 8.3 per cent increase from the previous year.
What is even more interesting is that betting duty is the only form of revenue forecast to increase in 2008/09, rising a further 1 per cent to HK$13.13 billion, as all other sources will be affected by the tax concessions announced in the last Budget. This shows what a reliable and stable source of income betting duty provides for the Government coffers, in comparison with other sources like salaries tax which is projected to fall by 30 per cent.
Our horse racing activities are the primary contributor to this as they generated HK$8.41 billion in betting duty last season, a 9.2 per cent increase. In fact, we have guaranteed to pay at least HK$8 billion a year for three years from 2006/07, as part of the betting duty reform package agreed with Government in 2006. This broadly represents about HK$100 million in duty payments for every single one of our race meetings.
This is not a small amount, nor an easy target for the Club to maintain year after year. Like Douglas Whyte's achievement, it takes a lot of hard work and dedication. I do hope the Government will continue supporting and recognising the value of our racing industry, as apart from these fiscal contributions, it helps generates a lot of other income for Hong Kong, such as tourism revenue. Our night race meetings at Happy Valley are especially popular with overseas visitors due to the unique glamour and atmosphere you can experience there.
Tonight will see another of those wonderful meetings at our city racetrack and we have eight races lined up for you all. I will be interested to see the performances of Sunny Golf and Hurricane Way. Both horses overcame bad draws in their last starts to earn a close finish. I hope these two horses can maintain their good performances tonight.
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