If you were one of the 37,000 racegoers who came along to watch our Audemars Piguet QE II Cup raceday last Sunday, I hope you thoroughly enjoyed our thrilling programme. The big crowd created a great atmosphere at the racecourse and gave tremendous vocal support to our Hong Kong runners, which definitely helped inspire them to perform that crucial bit better. The turnover for the day reached HK$1.085 billion – the first time it has hit the HK$1 billion-mark for this event since the 2003 edition. A total of HK$124 million also went to the public coffers as racing betting duties.
It was a day when our local runners shone on the international stage as Able One prevailed to win the Champions Mile and Viva Pataca in the APQEII Cup, with both horses reprising their success in the same races in 2007.
Able One burst clear of the field on the home straight to hold off a late challenge from Fellowship to claim the top prize. The connections of these two runners will now consider contesting the Yasuda Kinen in early June and I'm hoping they can win more international honours for Hong Kong on the Tokyo turf.
Reigning Horse of the Year Viva Pataca also notched up his first win this season in the APQEII Cup. This victory brought his career earnings in Hong Kong to HK$80.23 million, surpassing Vengeance Of Rain to become the top earning horse in Hong Kong’s racing history. Let’s see if he can make more history by winning the Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup for the fourth time next month, and equalling the record of the great River Verdon.
I know that apart from enjoying Sunday's racing excitement, many of you also provided your kind support to the Club’s fund-raising drive for victims of the Qinghai earthquake, by making donations through bank account, as well as to the collection boxes we set up at our racecourses, off-course betting branches, and clubhouses in both Hong Kong and Beijing.
On top of the HK$2 million emergency relief we have already provided and the HK$15.4 million net operating surplus we are donating from our race meeting last Wednesday, I’m pleased to tell you that we have raised close to HK$1 million from this five-day fund-raising drive. My colleagues told me some of our customers also donated their winning tickets to our collection boxes too, which it’s a true reflection of racing for charity. The Club will pass these sums on to related organisations at the earliest possible opportunity. Once again, I would like to thank you all for your contributions, as well as the many other helping hands throughout the Club. There are still thousands of earthquake survivors in need of support and your donations will make a big difference to their lives.
Apart from experiencing the thrill of international racing, I was invited by South China Football Club’s convenor Steven Lo to watch their AFC Cup match against VB Maldives at the Hong Kong Stadium last night. It’s great to see close to 10,000 football fans going to the Stadium, which was financed and re-built by the Club back in the 1990s, to give their cheering support to our footballers. Although South China conceded an early goal to the visitors in the first minute, they still showed great spirits and composure, eventually scored three to win the match by 3-1. They now proceed to the Round of 16 of the tournament and I look forward to their next match on 11 May.
Returning to our routine racing action at Happy Valley tonight, I will be keeping my eyes on the performances of Ottimo and Win A Dozen in the Tsung Pak Long Handicap. Ottimo has performed impressively in his win at the mile distance in his last start, while Win A Dozen also finished a creditable second despite he started from the widest draw last time. I expect there will be a good to slow pace in this 1650m event and I think this will favour these two frontrunners. In addition, another improving runner Untouchablelad enjoyed a good draw. I think he should be in the finish, too.
In the Pearce Memorial Challenge Cup, Caspar Fownes’ Mark Up has already snatched three winners this term. Although he will be tested for the first time over 1800m tonight, I think he will still be the horse to beat. Among his opponents, I think the impressive Implied Volatility who is now seeking for his fifth victory this season, the resurging runner Local Power, as well as improving young gun Fun Rider, are all capable to challenge Mark Up in this feature race tonight.
By the way, though Brett Prebble is now the clear favourite in the Jockey Challenge, for me local rider Howard Cheng has a good chance to get some decent results and make it an interesting challenge in tonight’s race.
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