The Lunar New Year holidays will soon be approaching and we've recently been experiencing some very warm and soggy weather, with temperatures rising to over 20 degrees for the past two days. Although I come from Germany, I'm quite interested in Chinese culture and I know last Thursday was the day termed lichun in Chinese calendar, which means the start of the spring season. So it isn't surprising that the recent weather is giving us a sense that springtime has already arrived.
On Sunday, though, our race meeting was affected by a torrential rainstorm, a rarity for February, with the result that attendance at Sha Tin dipped to about 15,000. Despite the rain-affected track, there was plenty of excitement on offer, particularly in the Jebsen Centenary Vase when the first three runners passed the finishing post with almost nothing to separate them. In the end it was Special Days who gained the judges' verdict in this Group 3 event, helping his rider Douglas Whyte and trainer John Size to claim their first Group race victory this season.
I thought the track conditions on Sunday looked pretty good as not too much dirt was kicked up by the horses, and the races time were not too slow either. Over the past decade, we've put a lot of effort into improving the drainage systems and general condition of our racetracks. This means that even under torrential rain, the tracks normally run quite well and pose no danger to the safety of the racehorses or their jockeys.
I know that in the past, some racing fans would favour the chances of European-bred horses under soft going, as historically they have tended to outperform those from the southern hemisphere in wet conditions. But as the world's breeding industry has become more globalised and shuttle stallions become more common, many racehorses bred in the southern hemisphere now also possess European bloodlines in their pedigree.
The Jebsen Centenary Vase winner Special Days is a very good example of this as although he was bred in New Zealand, his sire Keeper was one of the outstanding progenies of Danehill, a prominent stallion who was originally based in Ireland but became one of the very first shuttle stallions to go to Australia in the early 1990s. That's why the deviation has become less pronounced in recent years and many of our southern hemisphere horses can handle rain-affected tracks very well.
Returning to our races at Happy Valley tonight, I'm delighted to learn from the weather forecast that no more rainfall is expected today, so our final race meeting in the Year of the Ox should be held under normal track conditions. Favourable weather will also help our racegoers better enjoy our "Lucky Wednesday" celebration, for which we have laid on a variety of exciting on-course programmes to help get you in the festive mood for the upcoming Chinese New Year.
You will be able to consult our specialist fortune tellers to see how to boost your luck in the Year of the Tiger, or participate in our "guess the winning horse" competition and lucky draw to win a pure gold ingot. So I hope will you come to Happy Valley tonight to join the festivities.
The better weather will also provide optimum conditions for the heated final stages of this season's CSL Million Challenge, as tonight will be the penultimate race meeting before this five-month series concludes in a fortnight's time on 24 February. Four of the top 10 contenders in the CSL Million Challenge leaderboard - namely Strawberry, Norman Invader, Loyal Army and Good Strike - will be back in action tonight and I'm sure they will all be trying their best to improve their standings. I'll be interested to see if we have a new Challenge leader after tonight.
Among the eight races in our programme, I'll pay my special attention to O'Reilly Magic and Super Genki in the Hung To Handicap. The ever-consistent O'Reilly Magic pulled out a wonderful victory in his last start at the mile distance, while Super Genki finished third in the same race. I expect there will have a good pace in this event, which favours these two runners to deliver a strong kick at the home straight. If the track going gets a bit soft, it will then lift the chance of Super Genki as he has a proven record in soft goings. Young Hero also showed signs of revival as he ran third in a 1400m race at Sha Tin last Sunday. I won't be too surprised if he runs closely again tonight.
The Mut Wah Handicap will be a very competitive race and I will be watching how New Chapter runs. This Paul O'Sullivan-trained runner almost snatched a victory in his previous start at the Valley three weeks ago, just at a nose margin behind the winner and settled for third. He will be competing in a 1800m race tonight and I'll see if he will repeat that performance again. Travel Guide and Fortune Winner also produced promising performances at Happy Valley recently. Both are well drawn and I think they are also capable to challenge New Chapter in this race. Real Special was held up last time out and I think he's another surprise contender in this event.
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