It has been an honour to be part of some historic days during my three decades with the Hong Kong Jockey Club and last Saturday was among the most significant.
For me, the first Exhibition Raceday at Conghua Racecourse was a great success on every level.
It was always our plan that the day would be run using identical standards of integrity, safety and animal welfare to those that apply at Sha Tin and Happy Valley.
The hard work and planning of many people ensured that we replicated those high standards in Mainland China and the reaction of key stakeholders to the opening of our new racecourse has been immensely gratifying.
Richard Gibson spoke eloquently about the sense of history and privilege he felt after saddling Nordic Warrior to win the first race for longstanding Hong Kong owner Edmond Yue and his family, and the jockeys were full of praise for a track which looked great and rode fair and true throughout the day despite steady rain.
Feedback from racegoers is important for any big meeting, especially one where more than 90 per cent of those present are witnessing the sport for the first time.
The early signs suggest that Saturday’s crowd thoroughly enjoyed their first taste of high-class racing and we can now look towards building an even bigger and better event at Conghua in 2020.
It was very important that senior officials from Beijing, Guangdong and Guangzhou were present to witness how Saturday’s meeting worked as a stand-alone sporting event.
I hope and believe they left with a positive impression and HKSAR’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam touched on something vitally important in stressing that the development of Conghua provides a perfect blueprint for the Greater Bay Area’s future development.
None of us can predict the long-term future but to witness the complete transformation of Conghua since it became the Asian Games Equestrian Centre in 2010 has been astonishing and, with one historic day now just behind us, we can look to whatever the future brings with even more optimism than before.
Moving on to Wednesday’s card at Happy Valley, the Class 4 Indian Recreation Club Challenge Cup at 1000m features a pair of last start winners Mr Right and Frustrated as the likely favourites and early leaders.
Mr Right is very fast out of the gates and should take up the running. Frustrated is only three years old and had the run of the race before winning easily at his third outing. He is mapped to get the same spot with Blade Racer, who finally gets an alley, keeping him company.
The pace will be good with Happy Good Guys and Young Empire also expected to press forward from their outside barriers.
Frustrated has drawn the inside gate and should find the advantageous box seat position by using his natural speed. He has been working well and is very much the horse to beat with the C+3 track so favourable to horses on the speed, especially in 1000m races.
All of Mr Right’s seven career wins have come over the course and distance and the short-track specialist is a place chance coming off his best race of the season. Travel Datuk has drawn a better gate and will be making ground over the concluding stages. Lightning Steed has been freshened at Conghua and appears ready to deliver an improved effort. Both are place chances.
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