Hi all, I hope you had a great time with your families and friends during the Christmas holiday. Although there was a week-long break in our racing fixtures over Christmas, that was not sufficient time for me to head back to Germany to visit my father. I hope I can make it up one day in the near future.
I did, however, take a short, relaxing break in Shanghai over Christmas and enjoyed some fine Shanghainese food there. I went to those restaurants I recommended in my previous blogs and was delighted to see they are maintaining their high quality of food and services. This time in Shanghai, I also visited a new venue called the Lan Club, a restaurant famous for its architecture and wonderful design. I was very impressed by its decor and general environment, though I would say that if you are looking for good cuisine and fine service, there are better choices in town.
This year, the Club did not arrange a race meeting on Boxing Day. I'm pleased to learn that this decision has been generally well received by racing fans, as well by many people in the racing industry and racing media. However, I need to remind you that the Club is still facing constraints on its racing operations and in the number of racedays, which pose constant difficulties for us when planning the race fixtures.
While in Shanghai, I also visited a bookstore and was very happy to find on display copies of "Going For Gold" – our new book commemorating Hong Kong's co-hosting of Olympic equestrian events this summer. Written in simplified Chinese and English and published jointly by the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) and the Club, this publication went on sale in major bookstores in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen earlier this month.
The book includes more than 250 wonderful photos, recording every historic moment from July 2001 when it was announced that Beijing would be host city for the 2008 Games, to the IOC's decision in 2005 to relocate the equestrian events to Hong Kong, and our subsequent construction of equestrian venues and facilities within a very tight timescale. There are also many fascinating pictures of the equestrian competitions themselves this summer. The Club's assistance in co-hosting the Olympic equestrian events was the top task for us all in 2008. I feel honoured that through this publication, we can share with our Mainland friends the pride of Hong Kong people in contributing to the success of the Beijing Olympics and the valuable Olympic legacy it has left our community.
Tomorrow at Sha Tin we have arranged an 11-race programme for our first race meeting of 2009. In my last blog, I sought your views about arranging 11 races for our weekend meetings, and I'm pleased that many of you have given your feedback to me in the past few days. Some of you felt that 10 races was the optimum number for weekend meetings, while others expressed a preference for Sunday rather than Saturday racing, as this gives them more time to study the form.
We value these opinions and it is not our preference either to arrange too many races in a day's programme. I believe that if the Club were given more flexibility to stretch the season and add a few more racedays, then we wouldn't need to pack so many races into each meeting. I shall be pleased to hear more of your views here.
Anyway, among the 11 races on the New Year's card, I'll be watching the performances of Good Gains in the Ma On Shan Handicap. The 4-year-old finished a promising 3rd in both his two outings in Hong Kong over 1200M and 1400M and I will be expecting another promising run from him this time over a mile with the ten-pound claiming apprentice Derek on board.
I believe the Chinese Club Challenge Cup will be a keen competition between Joy And Fun, Sunny King and Brilliant Chapter. Among these three major contenders, I think Sunny King should be the better one as he has performed very consistently in his five starts this term. Let's see if he can deliver another decent run on the New Year Day.
I wish you all a winning and prosperous 2009. Happy New Year!
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