I feel very encouraged by the results we've seen so far in October, as turnover has exceeded the HK$1 billion mark at each of the two Sunday race meetings held in the past fortnight. I'd like to offer my thanks to all racing fans for their support and I do hope this trend can roll on for the rest of this season.
Likewise on the track, a number of our star horses have been showing promising performances. In one of the two Group Three races held last Sunday, top middle-distance galloper Viva Pataca, who started his first run of the season at a mile carrying top weight of 133 pounds, still gave a terrific run and a good finish in the Sha Tin Trophy. Another outstanding miler, Good Ba Ba, also gave an eye-catching run in his first race of the season, in fact the first since his defeat in Japan's Yasuda Kinen in June. I expect these two horses to continue showing improvement in the international trial races in November, the lead-up to the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Races on 9 December.
In another Group Three race, the Premier Bowl, Medic Power had his six-race winning streak snapped, a performance that fell slightly short of my expectations. However, as this horse also did the same last year by not kick-starting his season on a winning note, this performance might simply show that he needed a run to breeze up after the summer break.
By comparison, looking at his fair form and the weight he carried, last season's champion sprinter Absolute Champion gave a surprise run in the race. I believe these two sprinters will surely be strong contenders for the Hong Kong International Sprint.
While these top horses are preparing for the top races, I myself love to get my physical condition in shape for my daily work by engaging in sports, particularly jogging. I used to go jogging along the jogging path inside Happy Valley racetrack in the morning, at which time many others were doing the same or exercising in the infield area. For me, the most memorable experience was jogging with former Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou along the racecourse, when he visited Hong Kong in February 2001.
While I jogged along the jogging path, I realised that facilities at Happy Valley racecourse have been substantially enhanced and upgraded in the past few years. I hope Happy Valley Racecourse can become an icon of the city, and to achieve that, the Club has carried out a Racecourse Master Plan study, which is still ongoing. I would be very appreciative if you could give us your opinions on how we can further improve our facilities and settings in the racecourse.
Again, we have scheduled a Happy Valley night meeting for all of you tonight. And let me remind you that there will now be two Happy Valley meetings in a row, as our upcoming day meeting this Sunday will also be held at Happy Valley, with a HK$34 million jackpot for Triple Trio.
In the only daytime meeting at Happy Valley last season, which took place in May, there was an excellent atmosphere and we received some very positive feedback about the arrangement. Since Sha Tin Racecourse came into use in the late '70s, it's become quite rare for a daytime race meeting to be hosted on our city racetrack, so perhaps some of our racing fans look forward to this opportunity all the more.
Taking note of this favourable response, we have increased the number of daytime meetings at Happy Valley to two this season, with the second of them scheduled for Sunday 20 April next year. We hope all of you will enjoy yourselves at these very special race meetings.
Looking at tonight's meeting, I personally would be very interested to see the performance of Har Har Charms (No.6) in Race 6, and Quest For Love (No. 11) in Race 8, as both horses are with nice form and good draws.
Comment
