It’s just few hours before we enter the new year of 2013. I’m sure many of you have arranged some activities or gatherings tonight for a countdown with your families and friends. Looking back on our racing for the past 12 months, I can say we enjoyed a great year for the sport – but you will know that I am never one to settle for a quiet life and am always looking to see how we can do things even better, so I hope there be many more exciting developments to come in 2013.
For our flagship Hong Kong International Races this year we entered into a new partnership with Swiss watchmaker Longines. I believe this prestigious sponsorship has further strengthened the world-class standing of this meeting and elevated it to an even higher and a more glamorous status. I'm sure you'd agree that the excitement level of the 2012 meeting, with a total of 22 G1 winners contesting the four G1 races, fully lived up to the event's billing as the Turf World Championships. It was great, too, for our racing fans to witness the dual success of the home team in the Mile and Cup races.
On the entertainment side, the attendance of international movie star Kate Winslet and top local artist Aaron Kwok added further gloss to the event, bringing it also to the attention of non-regular racing fans, so I hope that our next LONGINES HKIR in December 2013 can be even more successful. I hope, too, that more strategic partners will be joining our ranks as sponsors and offer their support to Hong Kong's No.1 spectator sport in the future.
For me, the back-to-back Hong Kong Cup successes achieved by our home-grown jockey Matthew Chadwick aboard California Memory were a highlight of the 2012 International Races. Coming hot on the heels of Matthew’s landmark triumph in the Shergar Cup jockeys' championship at Ascot in August, and the victory the same month of apprentice Alvin Ng in the Asian Young Guns Challenge, it shows that our local jockeys can compete with the very best at international level. These achievements are a testimony to the success of our Apprentice Training Programme, showing that our systematic approach to developing local riding talent is paying off.
While our locally-trained horses won three of the six G1 events held on home turf in 2012, Little Bridge was the only horse to bring us success overseas, in the King’s Stand Stakes in June. However, it was a milestone victory for Hong Kong racing as Danny Shum became the first Chinese trainer to notch a winner at the Royal Ascot meeting, and it was also the first success by a Hong Kong-based racehorse at Ascot proper. I'm sure local racing fans will be hoping our top horses and jockeys can claim more international honours for Hong Kong on overseas soil in 2013.
Besides looking forward to an exciting racing year in 2013, we at the Jockey Club are looking eagerly ahead to May 2014 when Hong Kong will host the 35th Asian Racing Conference, the region's leading biennial convocation with over 600 delegates and industry leaders from 50 countries set to participate.
With Asia now playing an increasingly important role in world racing, this is a significant move as it not only positions the Club strategically as an industry leader in Asia, but more importantly puts Hong Kong in the driving seat of racing's global development.
The ARC’s return to Hong Kong is a timely move as since the last ARC was held here back in 1991, the city has developed as one of the world’s top destinations and a fitting venue for prestigious global conferences and top business summits. To name a few examples in recent years, Hong Kong hosted the World Trade Organisation Ministerial Meeting in 2005, the Fortune Global Forum in 2001, and the Asian Financial Forum last year. It’s great for us to have this opportunity to welcome back the ARC to Hong Kong, as along with highlighting the importance of the sport locally, the prominent global profile of what is horseracing’s leading international convocation draws the eyes of the world to our city.
In fact, preparatory work for this event has already begun, including the relocation of the Asian Racing Federation Secretariat from Australia to Hong Kong last August. So it will be an exciting year ahead for us, making thorough preparations to ensure that the 35th ARC can bring positive and innovative changes to the sport we all love.
May I wish you and your families good fortune in 2013, and the best of betting luck at our first meeting of the new year at Sha Tin Racecourse tomorrow. We have scheduled 11 races in total, with the day’s highlight being the HKG3 Chinese Club Challenge Cup. It is run as a Hong Kong Group 3 event under Handicap conditions, and it has attracted a strong field. The pace is expected to be fast, which will enhance the chances of horses coming from the back of the field. Strong pacesetters like Aashiq and Leading City will go forward. Packing OK or Captain Sweet should be able to get the box seat position while others like Supreme Win, Flying Blue and Admiration are at risk to be raced wide without cover if they do not ease back. Fay Fay will be in a good position in midfield as Time After Time, with Real Specialist and Helene Spirit behind them. A number of times horses who ran in the International Races have been underperforming in previous New Year races, because they were primed and peaked at that day. Therefore I prefer some horses who did not run in the demanding but rewarding Internationals.
Helene Spirit meets his opponent Real Specialist on better terms like in his last time head defeat and the three-pound difference which normally would make me swing in my assessment in favour of Helene Spirit. Real Specialist, however, is working very well and I think has even more potential and should end up performing in Group 1 races. Beside this two I like Packing OK and Time After Time for a place.
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