Achievement on the international stage remains the ultimate sporting accomplishment and on Sunday (22 October) at Sha Tin we celebrate the record-breaking performance of our athletes at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, last month.
Hong Kong, China’s team collected an unprecedented 53 medals, including eight gold medals as well 16 silver and 29 bronze medals at the Asian Games to rank 12th overall among the 45 competing nations from the Olympic Council of Asia.
Apart from delivering a resounding vote of confidence in Hong Kong’s sports programmes, the Asian Games also served as a qualifying event for some of the nine sports contested in Hangzhou ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
The Club is proud of the Jockey Club Athlete Incentive Awards Scheme (JCAIAS) which recognises outstanding performances by the city’s athletes. At the Asian Games, individual gold medallists such as fencer Edgar Cheung, swimmer Siobhan Haughey, golfer Taichi Kho and cyclist Yang Qian-Yu earned HK$1,000,000 for their fantastic wins, while victorious teams such as rowing pair Lam San-tung and Wong Wai-Chun, the men’s rugby sevens team and the contract bridge team collected HK$2,000,000 for their efforts.
Individual silver medallists earned HK$500,000 with teams collecting HK$1,000,000, while individual bronze medallists picked upHK$250,000 with teams sharing HK$500,000. The Club has been a key stakeholder in driving sports development and it is wonderful that Hong Kong’s athletes are able to benefit from this support as they bid to further their international careers.
The JCAIAS covers seven major sporting events – the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Asian Games, Asian Para Games, National Games, National Para Games and the FISU World University Games.
To provide members of the public with an opportunity to celebrate together with athletes who triumphed at the Hangzhou Asian Games and brought so much pride upon our city, the Club is offering free admission into Sha Tin this Sunday when we will have a special ceremony for our athletes.
Gates will open at Sha Tin on Sunday at 10.30am with the JCAIAS cheque presentation ceremony at 11am in the Parade Ring.
Sunday’s meeting includes two feature races – the Class 3 Hong Kong China’s Asian Games Medallists Cup and the G2 Premier Bowl, while other races on the 10-race card will be named in honour of the seven sports in which gold medals were won in Hangzhou – contract bridge, cycling, fencing, golf, rowing, rugby sevens and swimming – as well as equestrian sport, which the Club fully supports and is proud of what our elite team achieved in Hangzhou with silver and bronze medals.
The feature race on the card at Sha Tin is the G2 Premier Bowl Handicap (1200m) which is carded as Race 7 at 4.10pm, with prizemoney of HK$5.35 million.
The pace in the race should be good with VICTOR THE WINNER going forward from the widest gate to lead, and SIGHT SUCCESS holding his position from the rails draw to find the leader’s back with STOLTZ sitting to his outside.
LUCKY SWEYNESSE sat in the back half of the field one off the fence when resuming on 10 September and despite making ground in the early part of the straight couldn’t reel in VICTOR THE WINNER when conceding 20lb in weight.
Zac Purton may elect to apply pressure in the race earlier than he did then with the defeat ending a six-race winning streak. LUCKY SWEYNESSE will strip fitter for that race and is my first choice for a win and a place because he is much better prepared for this race and his trackwork shows significant improvement compared to before his last start.
VICTOR THE WINNER was an outstanding winning first-up when he jumped from the widest gate to enjoy an easy lead, then sprinting quickly at the top of the lane and safely held LUCKY SWEYNESSE in the run to the line. Karis Teetan will again be looking to control the race from the front.
VICTOR THE WINNER will not be easy to overtake especially since he is in terrific form with excellent trackwork but he meets LUCKY SWEYNESSE under slightly worse conditions, receiving 17lb weight advantage this time instead of 20lb. He is also a win and place chance.
My third choice is ADIOS, who is working well and finishing strongly in his last start. STOTLZ is in great form but I am not yet convinced he is as good over 1200m as 1000m, but he should not be under-estimated.
Of the other runners, SIGHT SUCCESS is likely to improve off his first-up effort.
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