It was great to see more than 47,000 people coming to Sha Tin for our International Races meeting last Sunday. If you were among them, I hope you enjoyed the racing action and on-course programmes as much as I did. Your enthusiasm and support created a terrific atmosphere at the racecourse. I’m pleased to see the International Race cap that we especially designed as our memorabilia for all racegoers on Sunday, was very well-received. It’s even great to see you all waving the caps to join celebrating the winning of Hong Kong horses at the presentation ceremony.
To me, it was an absolutely fantastic day for the sport of racing in Hong Kong. Our top runners again proved that they could perform on the international stage by landing two winners and two runners-up places in the four International Group One events, emulating last year's success. Our racing public also gave us tremendous support as the day's turnover exceeded the HK$1 billion mark – the highest amount for our International Race meeting in the past five years. This is no small achievement in the current economic sentiment and it demonstrates the success of this great sporting and entertainment event.
I'm sure you were all as surprised as I was with the brilliant winning performance of Inspiration in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint, while Good Ba Ba's success in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Mile was more predictable, though the stunning style in which he achieved made it every bit as memorable. Good Ba Ba's back-to-back victories in this race have truly established him as one of the best milers in the world. But Sunday's races also included some hard luck stories, most prominently for Viva Pataca who again hit congestion early in the straight and had to be content with a fourth-place finish in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup.
While it's always good to see our home team doing well, I was equally happy to see France's Doctor Dino secure the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Vase for the second time and South Africa's Eagle Mountain take the Cup, as this highlights the fact that quality runners from other parts of the world can also put in top-class performances here.
With an audience of hundreds of million enjoying the action worldwide through live or delayed coverage, our international festival has further consolidated its status as the Turf World Championships. I'm delighted to see the event going from strength to strength each year.
I was especially pleased to see our evergreen runner Bullish Luck, who will turn 10 years of age next month, give another great performance at international level by finishing in the money in 5th place in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup last Sunday.
The horse was undoubtedly the best miler in Asia when he won the Yasuda Kinen in Japan in 2006, and his victory in the Champions Mile the same year also earning his connections the first-ever US$1 million bonus in the Asian Mile Challenge. He also became the first local-based runner to get a place finish in the Dubai World Cup, snapped the 17-race winning streak of the great Silent Witness, and even landed the Group 3 Centenary Vase at the age of nine last term.
Although this loyal horse has not been a winner so far this season and he will possibly be retired very soon, he has brought tremendous enjoyment to all racing fans and great glory and honour for his Owner and Trainer in his remarkably successful career.
After the thrills of International Week, we return to our routine schedule at Happy Valley tonight, but I still expect there to be no shortage of excitement. I'll be watching the performances of Big Kahuna and Super Snippets. Both of these two Paul O'Sullivan-trained horses are in good form and drawn nicely, let's see if they will deliver another decent runs with Douglas Whyte on board tonight.
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