Although I’m deeply involved with racing and devote all my working hours, and plenty of leisure time in this exciting sport, I still enjoy a lot of other hobbies. As you may know, apart from jogging in the mornings and enjoying different Chinese food and cuisine, I also like watching movies.
Hong Kong filmmakers and movies have earned high accolades on both domestic and international levels over the years, with a few even winning awards at the Cannes Film Festival and the Oscars. I know there’s been more exciting news for the film-making industry recently as a local production Echoes of the Rainbow, which highlights Hong Kong people’s lifestyles during the 1960s, won the Crystal Bear award at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival in February. It was the first time a Hong Kong movie had won an award in this prestigious film festival in Europe.
Arts and culture have always been among the top beneficiaries of the Club’s donations, and coincidentally, to show our support for the Government’s initiative on promoting the local creative industry and grooming budding film making talents in Hong Kong, I attended a press conference last week to announce that the Club’s Charities Trust has donated HK$1.43 million for the launching of the documentary production project – Hong Kong to the World.
With the CreateHK Office of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau being responsible for another portion of funding, this project will give some young Hong Kong film-makers the chance to produce a few documentaries with themes about the uniqueness of Hong Kong and China. The project’s joint organisers, the Radio Television Hong Kong and the National Geographic Channel International, will also make the winning works available to millions of home viewers both in Hong Kong and worldwide. I hope this project will help cultivate yet more film-making talent promote the sustainable development of the film-making industry in Hong Kong.
This meaningful project again reflects the Club’s commitment in supporting local arts and cultural development, and our dedication to race for the betterment of Hong Kong. With our racing business operating under the unique not-for-profit business model, apart from the exciting racing action and atmosphere, we also offer top-class leisure entertainment experiences for all racegoers, making the racecourses a “must-see” attraction for most tourists.
All racegoers and visitors can again enjoy our exciting races and first-class hospitality in our races at Sha Tin tomorrow. The Group 2 Chairman’s Trophy will be the feature event in the 10-race programme. Some of the top local runners and would-be contenders for the Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup and the Champions Mile, and a few of our top four-year-olds, will also compete in this event and take on our established veterans. That’s why I think it will definitely be a very fascinating race to watch.
I have always been impressed by the consistency and versatility of Mr Medici. With the withdrawal of Packing Winner, the expected pace will be good to slow, which may give Mr Medici an advantage as he has tactical speed to gain a midfield position. Beauty Flash has the look of a top miler and Brave Kid also will be better suited at this distance, so the new kids on the block will be interesting possibilities in what promises to be an exciting race.
Brett Prebble is looking to complete a big Easter weekend after winning the Golden Slipper on Crystal Lily in his native Australia and has an interesting ride on Ricky Yiu’s Praising in the Plantation Handicap. Praising covered some ground in his debut when wide without cover, but still fought on with a good closing sectional. The day, however, may be another big Sha Tin race meeting for both John Size and Douglas Whyte, as they team up in this race with Mandarin, who will be interesting after a very good trial and the step up in distance.
In the Lugard Handicap, there’s a promising and talented newcomer in 3-year-old Legend Express, which he will face a solid group of runners which includes the interesting Absolute Hedge. It is unusual for John Size to have a horse with seven races at Happy Valley and now making his first start at Sha Tin. But, as evidenced by his last run at the Valley, Absolute Hedge is progressive and comes into this contest in top form.
The finale is the Guildford Handicap and it will be an exciting contest with Enriched and Aashiq getting top billing. I am very interested in Enriched, who has the look of a very good horse, and will need his best to run down course and distance specialist Aashiq, while Firm Offer and Presto are seasoned professionals at this assignment.
I also notice that there’s a very exciting match-up in our football fixtures as Manchester United will be hosting Chelsea at Old Trafford tonight. Although United suffered a setback in their midweek defeat to Bayern Munich in the first leg of UEFA Champions League quarterfinal, they are in sizzling form in the Premier League as they’ve won all their last five matches. Chelsea are equally impressive if they demolished Portsmouth and Aston Villa in these last two outings. With United now just leading Chelsea in the league by one point, I believe it will be a match that’s not to be missed by soccer fans tonight. Personally, I think Chelsea has a better chance as while they didn’t need to play in the midweek, United will be without the service of Wayne Rooney, who suffered an ankle injury against Munich.
So I hope all of you will enjoy our races, football matches, and have some great time with your families and friends for the rest of the Easter holidays.
Comment
