You may remember that in my last blog, I commented on the restrictions on overseas simulcast races brought about Hong Kong's out-of-date betting regime. I'm pleased that in the past few days, over a hundred of you have shown your support and shared your personal views with me through this blog.
Having spent some time going through your comments, I'm glad to see that many of you share my view that simulcasting more major overseas races in Hong Kong would not only help local racing fans broaden their knowledge, but also raise their passion and love for this globalised sport.
Some of you also expressed concerns that these out-of-date measures could pose limitations on the Club's future development, and possibly affect the sustainability of Club's racing business and charity contributions in the long run.
I have to offer my heartfelt thanks to all of you who provided this valuable feedback, as it's important to know that we have popular opinion behind us when we are setting out to resolve these difficult challenges. I will very much welcome your further views on this issue. >>I share Your View>>
Just like you, our Club Chairman and Stewards are always valuable sources of advice on the Club's future direction and development, bringing to the table a huge range of business experience in Hong Kong and worldwide. Earlier this week, I was sad to learn that our Deputy Chairman and Steward David Eldon had decided to step down, as I've worked with David since I came to Hong Kong a decade ago and always found him especially helpful, and also a very dedicated horseman. I enjoyed tremendously to work with David as he's only a great business personality but also a person with great sense of humour and fun to work with. He reassured me that whenever I would need his views and support he would do so.
However, his successor as Deputy Chairman, Brian Stevenson, is an equally fond racing enthusiast, and I'm sure that he and his fellow members of the Board of Stewards will continue to provide a lot of valuable experience, insights and advice to the Club.
Tonight's race meeting at Sha Tin will be exclusively held on the all-weather track, which will give many of our experienced dirt runners another chance to show their prowess. Although dirt racing is somewhat less common in Hong Kong than in some other jurisdictions, we have still produced some very competitive dirt runners over the years. A good example is Watch What Happens, who put up a brave challenge in the Group 3 Burj Nahaar race at the Dubai International Racing Carnival last week and has now been invited to race in the Godolphin Mile, a US$1 million Group 2 event to be held at Nad Al Sheba Racecourse on 29 March.
Besides offering an additional chance for horses with different abilities to strive for better performance, races on the all-weather track gives our racing fans an extra variety and interest in racing, in just the same way as we strive to provide more major simulcast races from overseas.
Among the eight races on the card tonight, I'll be keeping a close eye on Dragon Stride (Race 4). This Gary Ng-trained horse got a very good draw this time, I would not be surprised if the horse delivers a better performance this time. I'll also pay attention to Kiwi Dash and Lucky Tycoon in Race 5. In particular, the latter horse gave an impressive debut at the all-weather track earlier this month and I look forward to seeing this young runner taking one step further tonight.
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