The last month has been an encouraging period for Hong Kong in the battle against the pandemic with the number of COVID-19 cases of unknown origin steadily falling as the combination of social distancing and stringent biosecurity protocols protects our society.
The Club has relished incredibly strong support from all areas of its operations, including trainers and jockeys as well as our employees who have made significant sacrifices in their personal lives which have allowed us to create a protective zone around racing, enabling us to continue to offer a world-class entertainment stream in the face of otherwise forbidding circumstances.
The Government’s trust in the Club’s ability to manage the COVID pandemic by creating the Racing Bubble, which is based on the willingness and collaboration of our licensed operators and employees, has been the foundation for this success, even if our loyal fans could not join us in person in OCBBs (Off-Course Betting Branches) and especially at the races.
The change in the risk situation with a reduction of positive cases in Hong Kong, especially cases of unknown origin, has led to further relaxation of social distancing measures and with this we have been able to open up our OCBBs in a phased way to provide more services, including on race days.
We are delighted that from 17 April we can make the next step in our return to our “new normal” when we can increase our attendance to up to 4700 members of the public and 2800 for owners and members to a total of 7500 spectators at Sha Tin, plus 1000 at cross betting from Happy Valley – which is great news for our FWD Champions Day Race Meeting on 25 April.
For meetings at Happy Valley on 21 April and 28 April, 1800 members of the public and 1900 owners and members are permitted, plus 1000 cross betting from Sha Tin.
As usual, all entrants will have to abide by public health measures, including temperature screening before entry, filling in electronic health declaration forms and wearing of faces masks during the race meetings. To comply with the latest Government requirement, all customers entering any catering or non-catering premises are required to scan the LeaveHomeSafe QR code of the premises or provide their names, telephone numbers and the date and time of the visit.
Special arrangements for race meetings
Additionally, designated OCBBs will be open on race meeting days to provide betting services and audio broadcast or live broadcast of races. All OCBBs will also be open on other days to provide the services of horse races and football matches betting, betting account deposits or withdrawals, cash-in of cash vouchers or winning tickets and opening or reactivation of betting accounts.
These changes are, of course, another example of Hong Kong’s incredible can-do spirit that has allowed us to rise the challenge once again.
The club is excited and grateful for these changes as we move towards a wonderful FWD Champions Day fixture, replete with three G1 contests.
On Wednesday night, the Class 2 Cedar Handicap over 1800 metres features three last-start winners and will be run as the final race of the meeting.
Reliable Team (Karis Teetan) is a four-time winner at Happy Valley and comes off a hard-fought win in his last start at Sha Tin in this grade. He will need to use his speed carrying maximum weight from an outside draw with pace pressure from Magnificent (Vagner Borges). These two will ensure a good pace.
Green Luck (Joao Moreira) won his last start in February at Happy Valley where he is a five-time winner and has been freshened at Conghua. Trainer Caspar Fownes tops the leader board with 20 wins from Conghua with Frankie Lor (18) and Francis Lui (16) narrowing the gap over the past few weeks. Green Luck had an easy trial at Conghua and will be ridden in a one-off, one-back position to get every chance. He is up in grade but does his best work over the course and I make him a place chance.
Flying Quest (Chad Schofield) will get a nice run from midfield and is another horse that performs best at the city track. He should show improvement and is a place chance.
Charity Fun (Zac Purton) has been lightly raced since arriving from Ireland but has quickly won two of his four starts. He is capable over this trip, even though a distance further than 1800m would be ideal. He is working very well and I make him a win and a place chance. The early leader Reliable Team is a place chance while Savaquin (Alexis Badel), by Savabeel out of a Pins mare, is bred to stay 1800m and is a also place chance. Berlin Tango (Vincent Ho) has improved in his work recently and is a G3 winner over 1999m, both he and Tsar (Derek Leung) are four-year-olds with potential for further improvement.
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