Last Sunday, we hosted our 125th Anniversary race meeting and I'd love to offer my thanks to your great support as more than 38,000 people joined us to celebrate this big day at Sha Tin, with our turnover reached a season-high of HK$985 million too.
Apart from the HKJC 125th Anniversary Cup which deciding the winner of the sweepstakes, another highlight race of the day – the Cathay Pacific International Cup Trial – also gave us a good chance to review the progress of some of our top local contenders for the International Races in December. I was hoping to see a good performance from our reigning Horse of the Year Viva Pataca in this middle distance event, but it was a bit disappointing in the end, as he only started to show his pace in the final stage of the race. Still, I hope to see this veteran stayer perform better in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Vase next month.
On the other hand, I was very pleased to see the emphatic style in which Collection won the Cup Trial. This four-year-old showed great turn of foot in the straight and eventually defeated his opponents with ease. After the race, his connections expressed that if the horse has a good result in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup, they plan to send him to Dubai to compete in the Dubai Sheema Classic in March. Given his performance on Sunday, I think he can be a solid contender in both events.
It was good to see so many racing fans on course for Sunday's event, despite the wet and windy weather, and I was especially pleased to see so many people stayed on after the last race to enjoy our variety show and 125th Anniversary Sweepstakes draw in the Parade Ring. The retractable roof in the Parade Ring once again demonstrated its worth, enabling the show and the draw to go ahead as scheduled.
The Parade Ring stands were all packed out with racegoers, while many more gathered on the balconies of the upper floors to watch the show, which created a great atmosphere. It's a very convenient and versatile venue, and quite a few of our commercial partners have arranged social and corporate functions there this season.
In the variety show, although my Cantonese is not good enough to understand what Sam Hui was singing, I enjoyed his performance and I can well understand why he become such a charismatic icon over the years, as he had all the crowd singing and swaying along with him. He really is one of Hong Kong's Cantopop legends.
Talking of legends, I'm sure many of our older racing fans will remember Irish jockey Pat Eddery, who rode more than 5,000 winners in a glittering 36-year career before he retired from the saddle in 2003. This included a few spells here in Hong Kong during the winter months in the 1980s and '90s, when he thrilled our local fans with his outstanding riding skills and unique style. He has now become a successful trainer, a recent highlight being his Group One success with two-year-old colt Hearts Of Fire in the Gran Criterium in Italy last month.
Anyway, Pat was back in Hong Kong for a short visit last week and was among the crowd at Sha Tin Racecourse on Sunday. I met him briefly in the paddock but regrettably couldn't have time to chat with him, as I was preoccupied by other on-course events that day. But he has earlier expressed about his hope of sending Hearts Of Fire to Hong Kong and contest for our international races next year. I believe many racing fans would love to see this materialise and I would also look forward to seeing this legendary horseman in Hong Kong again in the future.
But before then, we shall put our focus on the exciting night race meeting at Happy Valley tonight. Among the eight races on the card, I will be paying my special attention to Happee Gift in the Des Voeux Handicap. This in-form runner had a sound performance in his debut at the All Weather Track last time, finished a close second. Trainer John Moore arranged him to return to race at Happy Valley, where he had two winners in his career. I hope he can produce another good performance in this race this evening.
In the Wayfoong Centenary Bowl, I will be watching the performance of Yue Lu Treasure. He gave a nice dash in his season debut last time at Happy Valley, as he just finished half a length behind the winner for a fifth place. With Brett Prebble on the saddle, the horse will race in an extended distance of 1650m in this event. I think it won't be too surprising if he delivers an even better run tonight.
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