Over the past decades, the Club has initiated and sponsored a great number of local charity and community projects, benefiting many needy groups and individuals in our society. Observing the trend of Hong Kong's rapidly ageing population, we set up the CADENZA project in 2006 to help our senior citizens achieve more active and positive ageing, and foster new attitudes to how local people view and care for the elderly.
I think it's important to remember that all the elderly people in our community have made valuable contributions to society when they were younger, so the least we can do is respect and provide them with all necessary care and assistance for their retirement life. With this in mind, I'm glad that we shall soon be taking the CADENZA project a stage further to district level, as we're collaborating with Radio Television Hong Kong to launch the CADENZA 18-District Programme next month.
During this 18-month programme we will invite celebrities and professionals from different fields to speak at various interactive events and activities that we will host each month in one of Hong Kong's 18 districts. The aims are to pass on messages and knowledge that will help the elderly or soon-to-be-old prepare themselves better for ageing, and also to raise awareness among the public on how they can assist the elderly to enjoy a happy and healthy life.
I think it is very meaningful for our Club to take up this initiative and cultivate a new concept of ageing in the local community. In my home country of Germany, people are generally more open-minded and well-prepared for the ageing issue, with some schools even include this topic in the curriculum for their young students.
But I can also say that the Club's contributions to the local community go far beyond assisting the elderly or other needy groups. Through our various Club-funded projects, we aim to enhance the quality of life of all Hong Kong people in different ways. A prime example is our city's successful hosting of the 2008 Beijing Olympic and Paralympic equestrian events this summer. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Hong Kong people to experience the excitement of watching Olympic competition on home soil was only made possible by the Club's expertise in horse care and its ability to contribute some HK$1.2 billion to providing the equestrian venues and supporting facilities.
This Sunday we aim to continue the Olympic legacy in Hong Kong by hosting an Equine Fun Fest in Penfold Park. Thousands of local families and students have been invited to join the event and will once again have the opportunity to see Olympic memorabilia like the cauldron, jumps and fences used for the Olympic equestrian events. They can also watch exciting equestrian performances by the Hong Kong Equestrian Team, acquire more knowledge about thoroughbred and equestrian horses, get up close to horses themselves and meet apprentice jockeys and equestrian riders. I think it's going to be a lot of fun.
It's our aim to further develop public interest in equestrian sports over the coming years, although we never forget that the more traditional pastime of horse racing remains Hong Kong's most popular spectator sport as well as our Club's core business. Tonight, you all have another chance to enjoy this "Sport of Kings" at Happy Valley Racecourse. Among the eight races on the card, I'll be interested to see the performances of Magic King and Lhojong.
I've watched the performance of Magic King last week. He has produced a strong kick at the straight but just failed catching up the winner at the finish line. He will be partnered by Eric Saint-Martin and enjoyed a better draw tonight, so I'll be following the horse for one more time. However, I expect another Happy Valley performer Shy Baldy will also be giving an impressive run too.
Lhojong performed consistently in both his two starts in Happy Valley this season, notching up a winner and a second. He will be returning to compete in a Class 2 race with Douglas Whyte on board tonight. So let's see if he can continue his promising performance at the Valley this evening.
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