I'm glad that many of you have left messages to me through this blog indicating your support for our decision to cancel the Happy Valley race meeting this midweek, following calls by the Central and SAR Governments to observe three days of national mourning. We felt that the Club, as a major and socially responsible member of the community, should join the rest of Hong Kong in paying its deep respects to those killed in the Sichuan earthquake.
I know that some stakeholders in our racing industry expressed different views following our announcement on Monday morning, and I do realise that this late change will have caused a degree of inconvenience to their normal operations and other scheduled tasks. But I hope everyone will have regard for the sentiment of the community on this sad occasion and show understanding of the situation.
Last weekend I was in Singapore where I attended the Singapore Airlines International Cup raceday. It turned out to be a day of very mixed emotions. I was very shocked and saddened, as I'm sure you all were, to see the freakish accident suffered by Absolute Champion in the KrisFlyer International Sprint, which put an abrupt end to this champion sprinter's outstanding career. However, the performance of another Hong Kong runner, Sanziro, in the same race gave us something to feel a little happier about. His close defeat to Australian sprinters Takeover Target and Magnus showed the strong credentials of our Hong Kong sprinters. I hope to see more Hong Kong runners perform brightly this year in major overseas races, starting with the Yasuda Kinen early next month.
This week, I also noticed some important news from the American racing industry which could see its first Triple Crown winner in 30 years. Undefeated Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown has made it two in a row after conquering the second leg of the Triple Crown series, the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Racecourse last Saturday. The last horse to win all three legs of the US Triple Crown was Affirmed back in 1978. Although several other horses since then have won the first two legs but failed at the last hurdle, there seems to be real belief in the industry that Big Brown and his jockey Kent Desormeaux can end this 30-year drought with victory in the 2,400-metre Belmont Stakes on 7 June.
In Hong Kong, we shall be hosting the final leg of our own Triple Crown Series tomorrow, the Citi Hong Kong Champions & Chater Cup over 2,400 metres. Although there is no prospect of a Triple Crown winner this season, as Good Ba Ba won the Stewards' Cup in February while Viva Pataca claimed the Hong Kong Gold Cup in March, I will still be interested to see if Viva Pataca can earn his second win in this classic series and secure a HK$2 million special bonus.
Among the other 10 exciting races on tomorrow's card, I shall be watching the performances of Glorious Feeling and Amazing Choice. In his previous start at a six-furlong race earlier this month, Glorious Feeling had a great run and finished second – which was particularly creditable as he bled during races in February and had taken a layoff of three months. I hope to see if this young horse can improve further tomorrow. For Amazing Choice, he has won at the same distance in January. Regrouping with his winning partner Douglas Whyte, I'd be interested to see if he can repeat that success tomorrow.
Let me remind all racing fans who plan to attend our race meeting tomorrow that the Club will observe one minute's silence for all earthquake victims before Race 1. We have also extended our fund-raising drive by a week to 28 May and you can continue showing your support to the earthquake victims by making your donations through our collection boxes.
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