Hi there, I hope you all enjoyed some warm and happy moments with your families and friends during the Christmas holidays. Over the past two mornings, temperatures here have plunged to as low as 10 degrees, making it the coldest Christmas holiday in Hong Kong for more than two decades.
For a European like me brought up in much colder winters, it's not too hard to bear – I find it cool but quite comfortable weather – but no doubt some of you wouldn't agree! Whatever your feelings on this, though, I'm sure you'd agree that this wintry spell has added a bit of romantic Christmas atmosphere to Hong Kong's festive season.
Many friends of mine like to joke that I spend too much time travelling. So this year I've chosen to stay in Hong Kong during Christmas, doing some shopping and spending more time with my family. Though many of the popular places get rather crowded, it’s nice to be here to feel the joyful Christmas atmosphere around the city.
On the sporting side, many of the European football leagues take winter breaks at this time of the year, but in Britain it's the opposite, as some of the most crucial matches of the season get played over the Christmas and New Year period. So there's no need for our local football fans to feel bored, as there will be seven Boxing Day games from the English Premier League to enjoy on TV tonight.
In Britain, there's always a lot of media and public interest on who will be top of the League at Christmas, and this year that distinction has gone to Manchester City, remarkably for the first time since 1929. Topping the table at Christmas hasn't always been a reliable guide to the eventual champions, though, so it will be interesting to see if they can hold on to their lead in the months ahead. Still breathing down their necks, just two points behind, are their cross-town rivals Manchester United, who thrashed Fulham 5-0 last Wednesday.
One of the players who scored in that match was United’s star striker Wayne Rooney, whose name has also been in the sports pages this past week for different reasons. By all accounts, he's decided to follow in the footsteps of his manager Sir Alex Ferguson and fellow striker Michael Owen by becoming a racehorse owner.
The reports say Rooney has purchased two horses, an unraced two-year-old and a yearling. They will be joining the Tom Dascombe stable, which is now owned by long-time racing fan Owen, sometime next year. The yearling apparently cost 60,000 guineas, which is about HK$800,000, so it should attract quite high expectations from Rooney’s fans and the racing public when ready to begin its competitive career.
As for Michael Owen, he has probably enjoyed as much success on the racetrack as on the football field in the past year, as his horse Brown Panther finished a creditable second in the British St Leger in September. He also co-owns a colt with some other past and present United players like Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville.
They are by no means the only footballers to share a love of horse racing. Claudio Pizarro, who formerly played at Chelsea and is now with German side Werder Bremen, co-owns a filly named Crying Lightening with Queens Park Rangers midfielder Joey Barton. Trained by one-time Hong Kong trainer Peter Chapple-Hyam, the filly won at Meydan earlier this year and followed this up with victory in a listed event at Ascot in October. And former England striker Mick Channon is now a successful trainer, who brought his horse Youmzain here for the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Vase two years ago.
I hope the participation of more high-profile sports stars like Rooney and Owen can provide a positive boost for the British racing industry, which has been going through some difficult times and controversies in recent weeks.
After staying up to watch tonight's Premier League matches, please make sure you don't get up too late, as we have a 10-race card lined up for you Sha Tin on the final day of the four-day Christmas holiday tomorrow. I will be particularly interested to watch the Ho Chung Handicap – a Class 2 Race over the straight 1000m course on the C+3 course. The expected pace should be good to fast and horses drawn in outside gates tend to have an advantage. Bullish Champion from Gate 10, Romantic City from Gate 4, Eternal Beauty from Gate 8, and Oriental Prosper out of Gate 14 will all try to take the lead. Oriental Prosper ran a terrific first up race last time, and he should improve from his last start and is the horse to beat. The risk is that the leaders go too fast, which would give horses such as Vital Flyer from Gate 2, and especially King Mossman from Gate 3 a chance to finish strongly and catch the expected leaders. Chater Mikado is for me another chance coming from midfield.
The Chek Keng Handicap, as a Class 1 event with a rating band of 105 to 80 over 1800m, will be a good test for some of the four-year-olds in their preparation for the Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Derby in March. The pace is expected to be slow and with the C+3 Course it favours horses positioned in the front of the field. Cartoon Fay Fay as well as Liberator are the usual leaders and Beauty Touch should be well positioned and is the place chance for me. Let Me Handle It should find a place in midfield and will be a test for the four-year-olds. He has a win and place chance for me, too. Smart Giant should be one of the favourites in this race. His form and track work is impressive and is on paper hard to beat, but from Gate 12 he is at risk to be kept wide. His stable mate Zaidan, and Sapelli from John Size yard, are both working well too and the pair should not be underestimated.
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