On Monday, I was among those who attended a Club ceremony at the main Olympic equestrian venue at Sha Tin, when we officially handed over the venue to the Equestrian Company. This occasion served as a reminder that Hong Kong's first staging of an Olympic Games event is edging ever closer, with just ten weeks to go.
It seems a long time now since Hong Kong was awarded the right to host the Beijing Olympics equestrian events, yet in fact it's less than three years ago. We started the venue design and preparation work immediately, although it was not until November 2006 that most of the sites became available to us and we were able to bring the plans to reality. In other words, the entire construction process has been completed in well under two years, which must be something of a record.
In fact, the equestrian venues at Sha Tin and Beas River were already near-complete last August when they were used for the "Good Luck Beijing – HKSAR 10th Anniversary Cup", which served as an Olympic test event. Since then we've carried out some further configuration and improvement work on these venues. By the time the Olympics are over, the Club's total commitment to the equestrian events will be in excess of HK$1.2 billion, but I believe every dollar has been well spent in terms of the unique opportunity they offer Hong Kong people to experience the Olympics on their own doorstep.
When I handed over the ceremonial key to the Equestrian Company's chief executive Lam Woon-kwong on Monday, I felt really excited and proud of the achievements made by the Club's team within such a limited time. The venues and facilities are truly world-class and I am confident they will do Hong Kong proud this coming August. Although the Equestrian Company has now taken over management of the Sha Tin Olympic venue, and will take over the Beas River venue next month, the Club will not stop giving its full support for this unprecedented event. We will continue to maintain close liaison with the Equestrian Company and provide them with all necessary assistance in areas such horse management, logistics support, veterinary services and equine laboratory facilities.
While we all look forward to seeing the world's top equestrian horses and riders compete at our equestrian venues in August, there is still more than a month of exciting horse racing to go before that. Last Sunday saw our final Group One event of the season taking place when 10 top runners lined up for the Citi Champions & Chater Cup, and the occasion didn't disappoint as we witnessed a thrilling race. Although many of you probably lost out by backing hot favourite Viva Pataca, I'm sure you'll agree that Packing Winner thoroughly deserved his victory. I thought his performance in stepping up to 2,400 metres for the first time and holding off a tremendous late challenge from Viva Pataca was very impressive.
But I'd say Viva Pataca, who finished second just half a length behind but at five lengths ahead of third place getter Win Practitioner, also maintained his form and gave a nice run. The great performances of these two horses proved that Hong Kong not only has some of the world's top sprinters and milers, but also has stayers of good calibre. I hope these two horses will continue to improve and rise to the challenge of other top international stayers in the Hong Kong Vase this December.
Our eight races at Happy Valley tonight also look very fascinating. I will be interested to see the performances of Perfect Match and Maverick. In his previous outing at Happy Valley at the same distance earlier this month, Perfect Match ran a close 5th and finished just three-quarters of length behind the winner. He will be partnered by Douglas Whyte tonight and let's see if this young horse will give an even better performance. Maverick started three times in 2,200-metre races at Happy Valley last season, winning once and finishing third and fourth in the others. The horse has been in consistent form recently and I will not be surprised if he again performs nicely tonight.
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