In less than eight weeks' time, the Beijing 2008 Olympic equestrian events will be held in Hong Kong. It will be a historic event for all this city's residents, and especially significant for us in the Club, as we have been heavily committed with making final preparations these past few months. On Monday, we reached another landmark with the transfer to the Equestrian Company of our stables and other support facilities at Beas River where the cross-country section of the Olympic eventing competition will be staged.
I inspected the stables and equine facilities before the transfer, and I must say I was very impressed with their design and the tranquil environment they offer. The Club has committed to setting new benchmarks for the supporting facilities provided for the horses and their riders during the Games, and I'm confident the pleasant environment will provide these top sportsmen and their horses with the best possible settings for delivering world-class performances.
With some severe rainstorms battering Hong Kong in the past 10 days, our racetracks at Sha Tin and Happy Valley have been inevitably affected to some extent. However, the sterling efforts of our colleagues in the Tracks Department have ensured both racetracks have remained fully operational, providing a safe environment for horses and jockeys.
Here in my office at about noon yesterday I also saw some of our track attendants performing some sprigging work under heavy rain at the Happy Valley racetrack. They are among those who have been working hard behind the scenes, and I would like to offer my compliments on their professionalism and great efforts in maintaining the track condition amidst such adverse weather conditions.
It looks like the Happy Valley track will be somewhat rain-affected again tonight, making the going a bit softer than usual. Among the eight races on tonight's card tonight, I will be keeping an eye on the performances of Lucky Winner and Silver Sun.
Lucky Winner claimed a close second in his previous run at 1000m three weeks ago. He will be partnered by leading jockey Douglas Whyte and returned to his best distance at 1200m tonight. I'll be interested to see if he can get his first winner this season.
Similarly, Dennis Yip-trained Silver Sun is a specialist for 1650m races at Happy Valley, as he has achieved all his four career wins, two second place finishes, and a third, while being unplaced only once. He enjoys a bit of luck to have drawn Gate 1 and let's see if he can deliver an even better performance this evening.
By the way, our public voting campaign for the Most Popular Horse and Jockey of the Year will close at midnight tonight, so please don't miss the chance to support your favourite jockeys and horses before the deadline. You could win a free round-trip ticket to Los Angeles and free journey to watch Breeders' Cup in the US in October – an opportunity for our racing fans to participate in this important sporting event in the US racing calendar.
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