I've mentioned on several previous occasions that the fast-growing gaming industry in Asia has posed a severe challenge to all the region's racing operators, including our Club, over the past few years. That's why I always pay close attention to gaming-related news reports, to keep myself updated on latest developments in the gaming industry.
Recently, two of the media reports have really raised my eyebrows. The first one said that with the dynamic revival of the global economy last year, total betting revenue in Macau in 2009 reached a staggering figure of 119 billion patacas, which is a 10 percent increase on the previous year. Moreover, one credit rating firm is forecasting that gaming revenues in Macau will surge by another 15 per cent in the year 2010.
However, the stiff competition is far from limited to our neighbouring SAR. According to another recent news report, Singapore's new casino resort at Sentosa, which opened on Lunar New Year's Day, attracted more than 250,000 visitors in its first two weeks of operation. With another casino in the Marina Bay area set to be opened in April, I think Singapore will become another major leisure and entertainment hub in the region in the not-too-distant future.
All these gaming industry developments highlight the strong challenges that currently faced by The Hong Kong Jockey Club, as well as our nearest racing counterparts, the Macau Jockey Club.
Back in 2003, the two racing jurisdictions came up with the idea of organising two interport races each year, one in each city, to mark the growing co-operation and foster interest in each other's activities among racing fans. The inaugural Hong Kong Macau Trophy duly took place at Sha Tin in February 2004, since then this race and its Taipa counterpart, the Macau Hong Kong Trophy, have been run annually, providing the chance for top runners from the two jurisdictions to compare their skills against each other.
Today at Sha Tin we will stage the first leg of this year's interport series, the 7th Hong Kong Macau Trophy. Six top-class runners from Macau arrived in Hong Kong earlier this week. I've attended the trackwork session yesterday morning and there seem to be some strong, in-form contenders among them. However, we've also selected a strong home team, which includes improving runners like Aashiq and Yummy Spirits, so I think this Hong Kong Group 3 event should be an exciting race to watch.
The return leg will take place in mid-April, when six of our runners travel to Macau to contest the Macau Hong Kong Trophy at Taipa Racecourse. This year it will be an extra-special race for our local racing fans, as the Club will simulcast it to Hong Kong for the first time. Previously we could not do this as it fell on a non-raceday in Hong Kong, but after the Government relaxed our simulcast conditions last year, we are now able to include the Macau Hong Kong Trophy raceday as one of our 15 additional simulcast days this season. That means that all our racing fans can offer their betting support in Hong Kong while cheering their favourite runners. I hope you will enjoy and support this new arrangement.
To date, Hong Kong horses have won five of the six races on home turf while Macau horses have won four of the six at Taipa, so it will be interesting to see whether these trends continue. I've done my own analysis of today's races. In the Hong Kong Macau Trophy, I think we have a very good chance not only to win this race, but I believe Aashiq, Yummy Spirits, and the ever-consistent runner Presto have the credentials to capture the first three places. For the Macau team, I think Golden Pistol – trained by our old friend Brian Kan who is very astute in preparing horses for the big race – and the up-and-coming Eclair Fantastic, will have outsider chance to break into top three.
In another feature race of the day, the Association of Hong Kong Racing Journalist Challenge Cup, we will see the return of the all-weather track specialist Dynamic Blitz competing on his favourite ground for the first time this season. Despite he needs to carry the top weight of 133 pounds, I think he will still be the horse to beat in this 1200m event. Other runners like Sunny Golf and True Intelligence, who have both snatched winners at all-weather events this season, and No More Green, who won emphatically in his last start on Sha Tin turf, will be the contestants who can challenge Dynamic Blitz in this race.
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