During the past week, I've been paying attention to the news reports on the announcement of this year's Nobel Prize winners, and shared local residents' pride in seeing that one of the recipients was long-time Hong Kong citizen Charles Kao, known as "the father of fibre optics". It's worth remembering that without his pioneering work, the Internet and this Blog might not have been possible.
Another of the reports that caught my attention was the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Romanian-born German novelist Herta Mueller, whose name I knew when I lived in Germany. Most of her novels and writings depict the harsh lives of Romanians under the ruling of former communist leader Nicolae Ceaucescu. Being a fellow German, I'm proud of her achievements, too, and am pleased to see that her efforts over the years have been recognised.
In fact, many outstanding ladies have shone in different industries and sectors, showing that they have great passion in their fields and are as capable as their male counterparts. For instance, this year we have the first female assistant trainer in Hong Kong's racing history, former jockey Carol Yu who became Assistant Trainer to Tony Millard's stable in July. I've chatted to Tony about Carol and he commends her as a very responsible and detail-minded person.
Many other ladies have worked with great passion in the sport of horse racing over the years. One notable example is Mrs Ling Tsui, the behind-the-scenes breeder of Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Sea The Stars. Mrs Tsui only started to learn all about racing and breeding after Urban Sea – the dam of Sea The Stars – retired to stud after winning the 1993 Arc. But her efforts have already proved incredibly successful as not only has Urban Sea produced the mighty colt that has swept six major European events this year, but also another influential sire, Galileo.
In Hong Kong, about 10 per cent of racehorses belong to female Owners, and the number of younger female Owners has been on the rise in recent years. From my observation, these young ladies have shown great involvement in horse ownership, with extra love and affection on their horses.
In the old days, racing tended to be a male-dominated sport, so it's good to see more and more ladies coming racing and becoming Owners in Hong Kong. I feel it helps lift the whole image of racing as a sport, and dispels the notion of its just being a tool for betting. This was one of the reasons why I proposed the idea of establishing the Racing Club a few years ago, as it would provide an opportunity for young professionals of both gender to get involved in racing. I'm very happy to see that this initiative has borne fruit, with a significant proportion of Racing Club members being female.
Anyway, tomorrow all our female Owners and racing fans will have their day in the spotlight, as it's Sasa Ladies' Purse Day. We've arranged a lot of special on-course programmes for you, so I do hope you'll come along to Sha Tin and enjoy this very delightful annual event.
For the Racing Club members, it will definitely be a day to look forward to, as their own runner Young Elite is contesting the feature race, the Sa Sa Ladies' Purse Handicap, and is widely fancied to continue his winning streak, which now stands at four. Personally, I hope he will perform well in this race, but it will be facing his toughest test from Tony Cruz's runner Roma Pegasus. This five-year-old horse was just beaten by Thumbs Up by 1-1/4 lengths in the Mercedes-Benz Classic Mile in same weight last season. He has a sound performance in a 1800m race last time and I think he will be a strong opponent for Young Elite.
In the Dr G Handicap, I expect the race will be lacking of pace and I think two runners with nice performances in their season debut – Tan Tat Baby and Fortune Haven, and two other horses with nice forms – King Dancer and Beauty Forever, should have the best chances in this race. It would be great if SaSa Cosmetics' owner Mr and Mrs Simon Kwok to get a winner with Beauty Forever at their big day tomorrow, but I expect King Dancer, which has won three races in a row and with Douglas Whyte on board, will be the horse to beat in this event.
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