I hope you've all been doing well with the wintry atmosphere in Hong Kong these past few days as the city has been affected by an unusually cold spell, with the Observatory recording the coldest day this winter last Sunday. Although I'm very used to cold weather having grown up in Germany, where snowfalls are a regular part of winter life, I sometimes still find it difficult to cope with the chillier days here especially when the cold spell comes with rainy weather, 10 years after coming to live in Hong Kong.
Last Sunday morning, the air temperature dropped below freezing at some locations in the northern New Territories and there were a number of reports of ground frost. I was a little surprised to learn from my racetrack colleagues that morning that Sha Tin Raceccourse was one of those places. Frost was observed on a number of parts of the turf track, where the air temperature dropped to 2°C at the early hours that day.
I would like to share with you here some interesting information about how we maintain the turf condition. In fact, ground frost will not do much harm to the winter grass as snow and ice will not normally kill grass, though it tends to slow down its recovery. In this case, however, our Tracks Department took immediate action, applying a number of measures to protect the track and ensure it stayed in fine condition.
Shortly after Sunday morning trackwork was completed, our track officials made two short irrigation circuits of the entire course to speed up the frost melting process. They also delayed the mowing schedule to minimise wear damage to the turf.
I should mention that the Club keeps in close contact with the Hong Kong Observatory throughout the year to stay alert to unusually dry, wet or frosty weather. If the weather forecast shows there's a possibility of overnight frost, our Tracks Department will complete all watering during the daytime to reduce the amount of moisture remaining on the surface of the turf and decrease the chances of frost formation.
To me, it's vital that we maintain our track condition at optimum level. If ground frost should cause damage to the track, or it becomes a bit barren, it will pose potential risks to the safety of our horses and jockeys at races. That's why I look on our Tracks Department team as some of the most important people at the Club. I'd like to give them my special thanks for their vigilance and hard work over the past few days.
As Happy Valley is a city track bounded by high buildings, temperatures there tend to stay a few degrees higher and fortunately, we've had no frost reports from there this week. So tonight's races at Happy Valley will go ahead with the track still in top condition. Amongst the runners on the eight-race card, I will be paying my special attention to Eyshal and Big Kahuna. First for Eyshal, this Irish import flourished in his second season in Hong Kong, racking up three winners and two runner-ups so far this term. He will again be competing in his winning distance of 1,800m and let's see if he can maintain his consistent performance tonight.
In the Moreton Handicap, there are quite a few quick frontrunners in the field, which will surely add some pace to the race. I'll see if this will favour Big Kahuna, who will usually run in handy position, when he is partnered by champion jockey Douglas Whyte tonight.
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