With our biggest racing event of the year – the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Races – coming up next month, a large number of our staff in different departments are now very involved in preparation work behind the scenes, indeed they have been for many weeks now. They include, for instance, colleagues in our International Races, Sale and Development Department, for whom it is basically a year-round job keeping in touch with connections of the top horses worldwide to entice them to come to Hong Kong in December, then facilitating their travel arrangements once everything is agreed.
All this hard work will come to a climax at Happy Valley Racecourse tonight when we will unveil the list of selected overseas and local runners to compete in next month's four international races. As in previous editions, a star-studded list of overseas contenders will be heading for Hong Kong this year including two defending champions, Breeders' Cup winners, European classic winners and major stake winners from the United States, Europe, Australia, Japan and South Africa. There's no doubt that the participation of these top runners from around the world has underlined the event's status as the Turf World Championships. So if you wish to know which local runners and overseas contenders have been drawn in for next month's event, do come to join us in the Parade Ring of Happy Valley at 6.15pm tonight.
But there is one note of regret as yesterday, trainer Ricky Yiu declined our invitation to enter defending champion Sacred Kingdom in this year's Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint. I fully understand the decision made by Ricky and Sacred Kingdom's connections, and I hope the top sprinter will regain peak form and take part in other top local races later this season.
Apart from these four exciting international Group One races, the festival will also feature the Cathay Pacific International Jockeys' Championship at Happy Valley on 10 December. We will soon announce which 10 world-class jockeys will be invited to come to Hong Kong and contest this year's championship title along with Douglas Whyte – our champion jockey last season, and the leading local rider this season.
I can tell you that apart from a few famous overseas riders who are already very familiar to you all, the line-up will also include a few newcomers and interesting invitees from places like the United States and Great Britain. So please look out for our Club's announcement in the coming days.
Before we get to see these racing superstars and famous riders on the track in our international week, though, we still have four more domestic race meetings to go, starting tonight at Happy Valley where we have eight exciting races on the card. I shall be especially interested to see the performances of Magic King and Hold Hands. Having performed consistently in his recent runs in Happy Valley, Magic King will again be running at the shortest distance in this course. With there are a few frontrunners in the field, giving a good pace for the race, let's see if this will benefit him to produce a strong kick at the straight.
For Hold Hands, he will return to his personal best distance of 1650m at Happy Valley tonight, where he has previously notched two wins in five attempts. He will start tonight's race from Gate 3 and enjoy a three-pound allowance with jockey Jacky Tong on board. So I will be interested to see if this horse, who has finished a nice second in his last appearance a month ago, can maintain his decent performance this time.
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