Though racing fans had a short break as we had no midweek racing this week, it doesn’t mean that things have been quiet on the racing front. On Wednesday we made an important announcement together with Swiss watchmakers Longines, and they will become the new title sponsor and official timekeeper for the Longines Hong Kong International Races on 9 December.
Longines have been the long-time sponsor of different top-class racing, equestrian and wider sports events internationally. The most recent examples I can easily recall being their role in two important racing events last week – as a sponsor and official timekeeper of the Royal Ascot meeting, and also the title sponsor of the G1 Prix de Diane (French Oaks) at Chantilly. So it’s pleasing to have them extending their racing sponsorship to Hong Kong, and most prominently, to our flagship international meeting here, which I must say makes for a perfect match and befits our dedication to strive for excellence within our sport, further enhancing our premium racing brand with more recognition worldwide. With this latest strategic partnership, I’m sure we can join hands and take this international racing carnival to a new height.
While we have a top brand joining us to be our latest partner in racing sponsorship, we hope that we can achieve our goal of attracting horses and jockeys of ever higher credentials to compete in our Turf World Championships at the year-end. That’s why we have decided to increase the total prize money of our international races for the second consecutive year, precisely by another HK$4 million to HK$72 million. Among them, the total purse of our leading race, the Longines Hong Kong Cup, will be raised to HK$22 million, while both the Longines Hong Kong Vase and Longines Hong Kong Sprint will be increased to HK$15 million each.
And for the traditional opening event of our international week, the Longines International Jockeys’ Championship on 5 December, the prize money received by the top three jockeys will also be increased from HK$300,000 to HK$800,000. With this higher prize money and incentives, I’m confident that the excitement level and competition in our international races this year will be as keen as ever, and I can’t wait to see those top international horses and horsemen performing on our home turf.
In midweek we also soft-launched a new service on the Club’s racing webpage – the Multi Angle Race Replay service – which enables you to have more angles and flexibilities when you review the detailed performance of horses and jockeys in races. From the 17 June meeting onwards, we enhance the race replay function of the related races so that when our web users watch the replay, they can then select replaying the race footage – with normal angle, patrol video and the additional Leading Horse angle available – as well as the Pass Through Analysis footage on the same video player. I have tried it and I find that it’s really user-friendly – no more flicking between videos. I hope you will find it useful for your close study of runners’ performances. You may try using this new function when you review the races after our race meeting tomorrow.
Tomorrow at Sha Tin Racecourse we will join in celebrating the 15th anniversary of Hong Kong’s reunification. Affected by tropical storm Doksuri, local weather deteriorated considerably overnight and I could feel the strong gusts outside my flat last night, too! But fortunately, its swift passage makes sure our races tomorrow are unaffected and can be held as scheduled. So please come along with your friends and family to enjoy a day of exciting racing on this special date.
In the day’s feature race the Hong Kong Reunification Cup, this Class 2 handicap over 1400m has attracted a strong and competitive field. The expected good to slow pace, combining with the expected good to yielding ground, will give little advantage to horses in the front of the field. Oracle will have to work hard from Gate 11 to lead and he has not shown much in his races till now. Wah May Star who ran well to finish second on yielding ground last time, can take the box seat and is one of my major chances. President Lincoln who beat Wah May Star in his last race is working well. Despite going up by 8 pounds in the handicap, he is for me the horse to beat. Masquerader from Gate 8 is likely to go forward to find a good position. He has impressed me in his last race and has a place chance in this event. Jun Gong ran well as an outsider last time out by coming from the back of the field with a strong run over a distance of 1200m. He is a winner over 1400m in Australia on yielding ground, and will be for me an interesting chance for the top-three.
With Monday being a public holiday, I am sure many of you, like me, will stay up late tomorrow to watch the Euro final between Spain and Italy. Spain had to dig deep before sending Portugal back home when they won the semi-finals by penalty shoot-out. And for Germany, the team I support, I think their first half performance in Thursday’s semi-final, except for the opening minutes, was their most disappointing spell in this year’s tournament. Having conceded two goals to Italy by half-time, it left them with a mountain to climb and the team eventually bowed out in defeat.
So now Italy must face Spain in the final and that is a tough encounter with the Spanish possessing such a strong midfield. Italy have played a good possession game with Pirlo as the fulcrum, but in the final they will come up against the masters at retaining possession in games. In Mario Balotelli, I believe Italy certainly have the danger man though, and I think he can do exceptional things with a football when he is in the mood. I expect it will be a great match and I look forward to seeing how both teams fight it out with each other tomorrow night.
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