Due to the Government’s drainage work at Happy Valley, we have had two midweek night meetings at Sha Tin in the past fortnight with one more to come, namely the season’s final night meeting there today. Last Wednesday night I took the opportunity to have a walk around the racecourse, to take in the atmosphere and chat with some racing fans. I also paid a visit to our new venues including Hay Market, which I’m sure many of you have heard has proved a hit since it opened in January, and has since developed as one of the most popular spots at Sha Tin.
Although it was a Wednesday night, it was still vibrant in there and I was pleased to see groups of younger racegoers having a great time and enjoying the comfort and ambience of the venue. Some of them told me that they enjoy having more of these kind of feature restaurants at the racecourses because they provide another option for social gathering in the middle of the week while enjoying live horse racing. This is indeed good to hear as that’s what we are aiming to provide.
Many of our customers nowadays want something extra, something more than simply wagering. Apart from watching our races, many racegoers view racing as a social occasion, just like in many other jurisdictions around the world, so other elements such as the dining experience and the ambience of the on-course venues become very important. That’s why in recent years we have brought in some trendy and stylish themed settings, and many of these, such as the Hay Market, have become aspirational venues, and demonstrate that we are not only taking care of the hardcore fans but are also aware of the demands of different customer groups.
I think we all accept that a night meeting at Happy Valley gives racegoers a unique racing atmosphere that cannot be replicated anywhere in the world, which explains why our Happy Wednesday themed meetings have earned such a good reputation and are so popular. However, those who do not work or live on Hong Kong Island actually find racing in the Sha Tin track more convenient. The night meetings on the last two Wednesdays at Sha Tin have attracted decent crowds of around 12,000 people, a very good figure for many racecourses around the world for any fixture. I think it is merely the different scale and design of the two courses that enables that large number of people to spread out at different venues at Sha Tin, making it, to some extent, look like a smaller crowd than it actually is.
Anyway, I am thankful to the racing fans who came to enjoy nigh racing at our Sha Tin track for the past two weeks, and I hope those who come and join us tonight will have fun at our last night meeting of the season. The trainer's championship will become one of the main features for the last few race meetings of the season and I think that Caspar Fownes has a strong chance today to close the gap on John Size. Caspar has a lot of good chances today. His stable runner Gun Pit should be one of the favourites in the last race, the Venus Handicap which is a Class 3 on the All Weather Track over 1650m.
The pace is expected to be good to slow. Although there is no definite leader, six of these horses can usually lead or sit just off the pace. The pressure they put on each other should be strong enough to generate a good-to-slow tempo. Gun Pit is working very well and is for me the horse to beat. His strongest opponents are Golden Addiction and Goldland Dancer who are both working very well, with Buddy Buddies as another place chance.
At the World Cup, half of the 32 teams completed their group matches over the past two nights, and my home team Germany will play their final group match against the USA on Thursday at midnight Hong Kong time. It was a bit concerning to see the team exposing their defensive flaws in the draw against Ghana last time. Despite that, one of the positives in that match was striker Miroslav Klose scoring the equalising goal, also his 15th goal in the World Cup, which gave him a share of the all-time World Cup finals record with Brazilian striker Ronaldo. A draw on Thursday would give Die Mannschaft a guaranteed place in the knockout stages as Group winners, with USA finishing as the runners-up. I’ll be keen to see if they manage to play better this time.
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