I expect many of you saw or read the news stories late last week reporting that two people were arrested after intruding the turf track at Happy Valley Racecourse last Thursday night. Although the police are still investigating their intentions, to me it was a silly and unacceptable act whatever the reasons.
The Club has always made racetrack safety one of its top priorities, and we will never tolerate any trespassing into the track or unauthorised interference with the turf in any way. That's why, even though some reports quoting police sources suggest that the two men were simply trying to check the length, width and position of the track to find out if there was any deviation in track settings, I still consider such actions illegal and totally disagree with their motives.
In my opinion, if anybody has any concerns or comments regarding our racing operations, they should express their views and seek our clarification through proper and legitimate channels. The actions taken by these two people not only amount to illegal trespassing into the Club’s private property, they could also have damaged the racetrack and undermined its safety. And more seriously, they represent a groundless challenge to the integrity of horse racing.
A few of the reports mentioned that one of those arrested formerly worked in the racing media. He proclaimed himself to be a "racing expert" and the convenor of the HK Joint Union of Workers of the Horse Racing Industry when he presented his views against betting duty reform in a Legislative Council panel meeting back in June 2005.
Although he argued then that the size of the illegal bookmaking market was insignificant in Hong Kong and he deemed the reforms unnecessary, all of us can see clearly now that this was not the case. The betting duty reforms have proved very successful, enabling the Club to recapture a significant amount of betting revenues from the illegal market and better meet the demands of its customers. In comparison to the turnover before betting duty reform, an additional gross margin of around $1.36 billion was created and of this amount, 72.5% (i.e. $986 million) was contributed to the Hong Kong community via tax revenue.
Given this person's expressed position on illegal bookmaking activities in Hong Kong; his claim to represent the racing industry which was never recognised by the racing media at large; and now his questionable move alleging to check the length of the track late at night without authorisation, I eagerly await the conclusion of police investigation to see if there are hidden and malicious motives and agenda. All these events only raise more questions regarding his real intentions behind trespassing the race track which led to his arrest. Were they simply silly acts on his part?
On a similar topic, another recent media report has also made an allegation against the Club, concerning a video showing the manual watering work performed by our Tracks Department staff at Happy Valley Racecourse.
Those who really know racing well will know that the sandmesh profile of the Happy Valley track provides effective drainage to drain away water quickly. Even if there was water splashed on the area of the racetrack a few hours before the races, it would not have any material effect on the turf.
I must say I feel rather unhappy about what has been reported, as I consider it a serious and unwarranted allegation on the professionalism of our tracks staff. It is also groundless to suggest that a betting syndicate could influence race results by means of watering the turf track. To me, it shows that the parties concerned have limited knowledge about racing and turf conditions.
We invest heavily and make huge efforts to ensure that the tracks used for our races reach the highest standards in terms of safety and condition, and security measures are in place to protect it from interference. We will continue to maintain vigilance so as to ensure that our horses and jockeys can enjoy a safe track and our racing fans’ confidence in fair races.
Tonight's race meeting at Happy Valley will run as scheduled and I am confident our Tracks Department team will have the surface in optimum condition for what will be one of the special nights of the Happy Valley Programme - the finale of our CSL Million Challenge. Though the Andreas Schutz-trained Kenobe is leading with 40 points, the competition could hardly be keener this time as nine of the leading contenders have starts on tonight's card and all of them still have a chance of winning the Million Challenge. I'm sure we're going to see a lot of great racing and excitement tonight.
Personally, I'll be paying my attention to the performances of Operation Secret and Willing Storm. Operation Secret is in great form this season as he finished in the money in all his seven starts this term. He will be returning to the mile distance at Happy Valley tonight, where he got a winner and three runner-up finishes in his career, and let's see if he can continue to deliver another decent performance this evening.
Willing Storm lacked a bit of luck in his two previous starts at Happy Valley and Sha Tin respectively as he was held up early in the straight and stormed home late in both races. Having shown consistent improvement this season, I hope he will enjoy better luck and perform better this time.
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