I'm sure a lot of you are getting rather concerned about the swift spread of swine flu across the globe, especially after the Government confirmed Hong Kong's first swine flu case last night. I must say I'm very concerned about this news, as are my colleagues in different departments of the Club, who are monitoring the latest developments of the pandemic closely and have already stepped up their alert levels.
The Club's veterinarians assure me that so far, there is no evidence to suggest that the swine flu virus could cross over into racehorse population, as it belongs to a different virus strain from the type that causes equine influenza. However, the Club will stay vigilant on this issue with strict bio-security measures and surveillance in place. Just as we did during the SARS outbreak in 2003, we have already activated a cross-departmental task force to monitor the situation and will heighten our precautionary measures when necessary. Following the experience of SARS, I believe that no-one in Government or the community at large will take this latest threat lightly, as a serious outbreak here could bring huge turmoil to our health system, local economy and tourism industry.
Hong Kong's tourism industry has been one of the major sectors driving our city's economic growth in recent years. I'm glad that our two racecourses have become viewed as a "must see" attraction for a lot of our overseas visitors. Many travellers choose to visit Sha Tin or Happy Valley Racecourses when they are staying in the city. In most cases it's not so much about trying their betting luck as simply enjoying the colourful spectacle and exciting racecourse atmosphere for which Hong Kong has become famous.
On major racedays like the Audemars Piguet QEII Cup and Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Races, as well as our festive race meetings during the Chinese New Year and National Day, the racecourse is now quite a significant tourism destination and travellers do plan their visit well in advance to suit the Hong Kong racing calendar. That's why we always try to strike a balance when arranging our racing fixtures each season.
Besides tourists, I quite often see overseas television crews being taken around by my colleagues to conduct filming work at different parts of the racecourse. It's really delighted to see that a significant portion of the film crews are producing travel programmes or documentaries, introducing Hong Kong, and in particular, the passion for the sport of racing in town, to audiences in their home countries.
At one time most of these crews came from the UK, US, Australia, Germany where racing is also a popular sport, but increasingly they are coming from Mainland China and even from the likes of Russia, Slovenia and India. This illustrates that although Hong Kong is just a small city in the world, our horse racing has gained renown as one of the attractions that makes it stand out as a business and tourism destination, and catches a lot attention from media and travellers all around the world.
In recent years, the Central Government has relaxed its immigration policy and allowed more Chinese citizens to travel to Hong Kong, a measure that has brought substantial benefits to our economy. We at the Club have likewise seen a booming number of Mainland tourists entering the racecourse, and found that not only do they enjoy watching our races, they also love do shopping at the Club's souvenirs shops and purchase gifts for their families and friends. During this May Day holiday, a great number of Mainland travellers will again be visiting Hong Kong. To give our visitors a special welcome, we have decided to give all overseas travellers free admission to our race meetings at Sha Tin and Happy Valley in early May. I hope they will have a great time at our race meetings and spread the word to their friends back home.
Tomorrow we shall have 10 races at Sha Tin again. Among them, I will be paying my attention to Top News and Big Profit. In the Li Cup, Top News is an upcoming four-year-old who has shown improvement in each of his three starts over 1000M straight course and won impressively in his last outing. I will not be surprised if he can gain another win tomorrow at the same course and distance.
In the Swaine Cup, Big Profit has been performing consistently and could finish in the money in all of his latest six starts, recording three wins, one second and two thirds. Despite of the wide draw, the three-year-old still ran a close third, beaten only by a short-head last time. Let's see if he can get his fourth win this season. Besides, I am also expecting a better performance from Packing Supreme, the son of Exceed And Excel, in this 1400M race tomorrow.
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