As you might have heard by now, we had some very disappointing news on Wednesday night as our champion sprinter Sacred Kingdom had to pull out of his trip to Japan for the Takamatsunomiya Kinen at the very last minute. He had already boarded the plane at Chek Lap Kok airport when our vet found the horse was suffering from colic.
We immediately unloaded Sacred Kingdom from the flight and transported him back to Sha Tin, where our vets arranged for him to receive an emergency operation at the Equine Hospital early Thursday morning. I'm happy to learn that the operation was successful, and the horse has made satisfactory progress since the surgery.
After Sacred Kingdom's withdrawal, the connections of his stablemate Ultra Fantasy also abandoned the campaign. With no Hong Kong horses running, we've decided not to simulcast the race to Hong Kong. Anyway, let's hope this champion runner will recover soon and will be able to meet our racing fans on home turf again in the future.
I'd like to pay my compliments here to the Club's vets and stable staff, as without doubt their professionalism and alertness has saved Sacred Kingdom's career, and possibly his life as well. In fact, all our Veterinary Clinical Services team are very dedicated to their job and to deliver their best for health care of not only active racehorses, but also the retired ones.
Equally dedicated are our Racing Laboratory team who provide world class equine drug testing and control services. Their professional and reliable backup has been very important in ensuring the high integrity and reputation of Hong Kong racing. The Racing Laboratory is one of only four reference labs worldwide recognised by the International Equestrian Federation, and the only one in Asia. As such it played an important role in supporting the equestrian events of the Beijing 2008 Olympics, when the team earned much praise for their professional support.
I was delighted to learn recently that the Racing Laboratory's work has gained further international recognition, as one of our racing chemists, Dr Emmie Ho, was honoured with the Young Scientist Award at the 18th International C
onference of Racing Analysts and Veterinarians held last week in Queenstown, New Zealand.
onference of Racing Analysts and Veterinarians held last week in Queenstown, New Zealand. This biennial event is considered the most important conference in the racing industry for drug control analysts and regulatory veterinarians. It gives the participants a valuable opportunity to share their knowledge and ideas on the latest equine drug testing methods and technologies, as well as on equine health and veterinary treatment issues.
At this year's conference, Dr Ho delivered two presentations on research and development projects conducted by our Racing Laboratory, one on drug analysis and another on the identification of insulin in equine samples. Another participant from the Club, Dr April Wong, also delivered two presentations about drug metabolism on racehorses. The presentations by Dr Ho and Dr Wong were both very well received by the representatives of other racing clubs and jurisdictions present at the conference, but there's only one winner and the panelists finally decided to give the award to Dr Ho.
Actually, Dr Emmie Ho becomes the second of our racing chemists to receive the Young Scientist Award, the first being Gary Leung at the 2004 conference in Dubai. It makes ours the only racing laboratory to date to receive this award twice. May I congratulate Dr Ho, Dr Wong, and indeed all of our Racing Laboratory team, for the efforts and achievements.
Like the vets and racing chemists, many members of the Club's working team will also be there in the background as ever to provide support at our Sha Tin race meeting tomorrow. Among the 10-race programme, there will be three trophy races including the Premier Plate, the Yan Oi Tong Cup and the CUHK Alumni Cup.
In the Yan Oi Tong Cup, a fast tempo is anticipated as several runners with speed would try to compete for good positions in the early stage of the race. I will be expecting a good performance from Amigo despite the wide draw. Among the other contenders, Nightlign, Craig's Dragon and Royal Pericles had good records over 1200m at Sha Tin and should be Amigo's main rivals.
In contrast to the Yan Oi Tong Cup, the CUHK Alumni Cup race is expected to be run at a slow pace which should help Fat Dragon and enable Eastern Empire to get across from Gate 13, and hence enhance their chances in this race. Having said that, I will be expecting another good performance from the in-form Glory Of Indian who delivered a great turn of foot in his last two outings. Besides, it will be interesting to see how Wo Ai Ninn finishes in this 1800m event.
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