As European football heads into another international break, football fans will be turning their attention to the European Championship qualifiers and international friendlies this week. During this break the Club has welcomed a guest from England as Manchester United’s goalkeeping coach Frans Hoek visited Hong Kong this week to attend the officiating ceremony of this year’s Jockey Club School Football Development Scheme on Thursday.
It is the second year of our involvement in this programme in collaboration with United and we have 13 local secondary schools joining in this time. It has always been our target to introduce a modern and professional football training module to local campuses. Having said that I think the programme offers far more, because apart from teaching young players football skills, it also helps to nurture character and develop leadership capabilities.
I was delighted to have the chance to meet Frans. Nowadays he’s working as an assistant to United’s manager Louis van Gaal. Before that he worked at several other big clubs in Europe, including Ajax in Holland, Barcelona in Spain and Bayern Munich in Germany. He is also the mentor of famous Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar. Under his guidance goalkeeper David De Gea is also among one of the best players in United’s squad this season.
Apart from giving a goalkeeping training workshop to 40 coaches from local schools, Frans also offered his advice to all attending the ceremony, saying that apart from having the ambition to win and being disciplined at all times, every football player and football coach should have a heart and love for the game. And that a football coach should always be willing to learn, listen and improve. He said that these key characteristics are possessed by the many world-class coaches he has met and worked with. I think that’s very true as only through determination, desire and focus can a person develop further and do even better.
It is no different in horse racing. All jockeys and trainers need to make huge efforts to reach the top and become world-class competitors. A rising star who has shot to fame in England this year will start his first riding stint in Hong Kong at our race meeting this afternoon.
Andrea Atzeni is of course the jockey in question. Andrea is a UK-based Italian jockey, as I’m sure many of you know, and he has risen up the British jockey’s ranks pretty quickly in recent years. Having ridden more than 120 wins in each of the past two seasons, Andrea experienced the pinnacle of his career so far recently as he rode a total of four G1 wins in England within a six-week period between September and October, the highlight of course being his first European classic win atop Kingston Hill in the St Leger.
I know that when Andrea officially met local media for the first time at Sha Tin racecourse yesterday morning, he not only had mentioned his aspirations in Hong Kong, but also recalled how he went to Newmarket at the age of 15 to receive jockey training. Andrea told the media that it is a big privilege to be riding in Hong Kong against some of the world’s top jockeys, and more importantly, as a young jockey, it helps the development and the skills in order for him to succeed at the highest level.
Andrea has seven rides today, while fellow Italian Umberto Rispoli, who will also start his riding stint in Hong Kong this afternoon, has eight. Let’s see if they can get off the mark in their first raceday in Hong Kong this season. It will be the Panasonic Day – as sponsored by our longest serving commercial racing partner Shun Hing Group – at Sha Tin this afternoon. The Panasonic Cup will certainly be the race highlight today, and with trainer John Moore (four times) and John Size (two times) winning six of the past 10 editions of this race, I will be interested to see if either of them can add more to their tally.
In this Class 1 1400m event all eyes will be on the highly anticipated return of Luger, as he makes his first appearance in the new season. Luger has won five of seven races in his career, including three in a row in easy fashion to conclude the 2013/14 season and many believe he will be a force on the road to the Derby. He is a big horse and has added weight in the off-season, but is working well and is very hard to beat over this course and distance. For me, it will be a real battle between Luger and Beauty Flame, as both of them will be chasing our new HK$1 million High Achievement Bonus for a horse that can win in Class 1 before reaching the age of five.
Beauty Flame has run second in three outstanding efforts this season and his consistency at a high level is quite exceptional. He will roll forward and is a hard horse to go past in the straight. Super Lifeline will have first run at Beauty Flame as he figures to have a box seat position while Rewarding Hero will make his run from the back. Both are solid place chances in an excellent renewal of this always competitive race.
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