It's been a while since I wrote my last blog. I hope you all are well and staying with us during the racing break. Let me offer my thanks to those of you who left me with your suggestions on race scheduling, and the overseas races you want us to simulcast in the coming season.
As you will have seen, we have now announced our racing schedule for the new season. Although the Government has approved our request to add five race meetings, it has also stipulated that the season must end before 15 July, so the schedule will need to be more compact than in previous seasons. However, we have still been able to take care of some of the suggestions raised by our racing fans and racing media.
Midweek racing has long been a favourite leisure activity for Hong Kong residents and tourists, and Wednesday is the night that people have got used to setting aside for the racing, so this season we will stage all our night meetings on Wednesdays. This includes the first week of November, when we have traditionally switched to Tuesday night racing to tie in with the Melbourne Cup. This season with the relaxed simulcast arrangement, we can bring you both the Melbourne Cup simulcast and the regular Wednesday night meeting.
Though race meetings on Sundays have proved to be more successful in terms of attendance and turnover, we do take into consideration some of the feedback favouring Saturday meetings. That's why we've increased the number of Saturday race meetings in the coming season from nine to 12. I'm delighted to learn that these changes have been well received and hope you will continue to give us your usual strong support.
With five weeks still to go before the start of the new season, I've been treating myself to a short break and am really enjoying the chance to relax. But racing has always been an inseparable part of my life, so I can never stay away from horses for long. You won't be surprised to hear that I've been taking the chance to attend a few important summer race meetings in Europe during my "holiday".
One of the meetings I attended recently was the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot a fortnight ago. It was a great day's entertainment, as all the races turned out to be very exciting and I met many old racing friends, trainers and jockeys there. I was especially delighted to witness veteran trainer Sir Michael Stoute saddling all the first three horses home in the day's Group One feature race, including winner Conduit.
I also chatted with a few racing officials and racetrack operator representatives there. Racing operators in the UK are also facing great challenge, as some locally-based bookmakers have started to take their Internet and telephone betting operations on British racing offshore to lower-tax jurisdictions. This has resulted in a substantial loss of racing duty revenue, with the annual levy yield for 2008/09 plunging to £91.6 million, a year-on-year decrease of 20 per cent. This is an alarming situation not only to British racing, but also to all racing operators worldwide. I think the global racing industry must study ways to halt this situation and to strengthen their co-operation to ensure the sustainability of the sport.
Next week, I'll be in France to watch more racing at Deauville. The Club entered a partnership agreement with France Galop for the first time this year, and you may recall that we hosted the France Galop race night on 6 May to commemorate the 160th anniversary of French presence in Hong Kong.
As a reciprocal gesture, France Galop will host two races in our Club's name on 15 August, namely the Group 3 Prix Gontaut-Biron Hong Kong Jockey Club, and a 58,000 Euro handicap event, the Prix Du Hong Kong Jockey Club. Club Chairman John Chan and our Executive Director of Racing William Nader will join the event and I look forward to developing a closer relationship with our French counterpart in the future. I'll also be staying there for the Deauville August Yearling Sale the following Monday (17 August) to check the latest bloodstock market situation in Europe.
But before I depart to France, I shall be paying my attention to some great football action this weekend. This Sunday evening, reigning English Premier League champions Manchester United and FA Cup winners Chelsea will be competing in the season's curtain-raiser – the Community Shield at Wembley. Both teams have been very active in the transfer market and brought in a number of classy players this summer. It's certainly a match not to be missed and I can't wait to see the start of the Premier League new season.
Starting from this match, the Club will launch a new in-play bet type, Next Team To Score. This new product offers our football betting customers another choice and I'll be pleased if you can provide me with your thoughts and feedback regarding this new bet type here.
Anyway, I'll talk to you again when I return from France. See you later!
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