I'm now back in Hong Kong after my trip to Tokyo at the weekend to see our three Hong Kong runners participating in the Yasuda Kinen, a race that I'm sure many of you also watched through our simulcast during last Sunday's meeting. If so, you will be probably have been as surprised as we all were with the performance of our top miler Good Ba Ba, who finished second last in the 18-strong field.
As racing fans, you will understand how disappointed the horse's trainer Andreas Schutz and his owner John Yuen felt after the race. As information revealed just before the race, the horse weighed 15 kilograms less on Sunday than the day before, and I believe this may have been the factor that affected his performance. But at least another Hong Kong runner Armada gave a creditable run to finish second behind mighty Japanese filly Vodka, giving all of us something to cheer for. Here I must congratulate his owner Wong Yuk-lun and trainer John Size on their successful maiden overseas trip with the horse.
Those of you who put your betting support on Armada will have made some handsome gains, as its place dividend paid HK$26 for a HK$10 bet. But in Japan, Armada's place dividend was actually far higher as it paid out 470 yen for each 100-yen bet. Regrettably, Hong Kong's existing betting regulations do not enable us to launch commingled pools in these circumstances, bringing together the bets collected in Hong Kong and Japan. Instead, it is quite likely that this difference in odds and dividends provided an opportunity for illegal bookmakers to accept bets here in Hong Kong with reference to the odds offered in Japan, and then conduct hedging activities to maximise their profits.
The high tax rate for simulcast race betting as set out in current laws, added to the double taxation problem, makes such commingling arrangements infeasible at the moment. I think this is a situation that the Government departments involved should be concerned about and take steps to address. Our Club will be pleased to offer its assistance with any studies of how to achieve changes to the existing limitations on commingling and curb the illegal betting activities that these limitations encourage.
Apart from striving to enhance our betting services, we are always determined to provide you with first-class racing products and exciting races. Although I was out of town myself, I heard all about the severe rainstorm that hit Hong Kong on Saturday morning, with Happy Valley being one of the worst affected areas. We at the Club see the seriousness and imminence of the issue and have actually started discussing with relevant departments on ways to improve the rainwater drainage system beneath the racetrack.
Although a few of our track facilities at the racecourse Happy Valley Racecourse could not escape some damage, I'm pleased to hear that our staff acted very swiftly to get things back to normal. All maintenance work has now been completed and today's race meeting will go ahead as usual.
Among the eight races on the card, I will be paying my special attention to the performances of Win Again and Lollipop. Win Again has yet to get a winner this season. In his previous run at Sha Tin, he was held up in the home straight and not given much daylight, but he still managed to recover most of the loss and finished third. I look forward to seeing Win Again to deliver a nice run at Happy Valley tonight.
For Lollipop, he has snatched two wins, a second and a third in four appearances this season. It has been two months since his last win in a 1,200m race at Happy Valley in early April, which I think it may help his performance in his first career run in a Class 2 race, at the same distance tonight.
Apart from enjoying horse racing, I knew that most of you, just like me, are taking a close interest in the Euro 2008 football tournament. I am of course shouting for my home team Germany and I was quite impressed by their performance against Poland in their first group match. They will be taking on Croatia tomorrow and I hope they can secure another win to secure their place in the quarter-final.
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