Last week we announced that the Jockey Club Charities Trust would donate HK$281 million to Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) to establish the OUHK Jockey Club Institute of Healthcare, which will be home to a suite of academic programmes aimed at nurturing the next generation of health care professionals to address our community needs. The 13-storey structure, with over 18,000 square metres of gross floor area, is scheduled for completion in 2020.
We also announced that the Charities Trust would extend more than HK$35 million in funding of the Jockey Club Museum of Climate Change at Chinese University of Hong Kong for an additional three years in celebration of the fourth anniversary of the Museum. This grant, as well as the launch of the JC-CUHK Climate Action engagement programme, are part of our ongoing commitment to motivate the community to take climate action through a range of educational activities. There are more than 100 exhibits at the Museum, which includes over 50 interactive multimedia installations.
Of course, the Club has been increasingly proactive in tackling more complex social issues over the years, working with the Government, NGOs, academia and business. Of particular focus has been four strategic themes – Youth, the Elderly, Sports and Arts, Culture and Heritage – identified as important areas for the future development of Hong Kong. These projects help work towards our goal of contributing to the betterment of Hong Kong and I hope you will take advantage of these and many other programmes now and in the future.
At Happy Wednesday this week, our Disco Christmas theme continues, where the feature race is the Mercury Handicap which is run as race 8 and is a Class 2 handicap with a rating band of 105 to 80 over 1200m on the C+3 course. The race has attracted many in form horses and is very competitive. The expected pace is good to fast which will help horses coming from the back and will reduce the advantage front runners tend to have on the C+3 Track.
A number of horses have solid pace profiles, but Fabulous One seems most likely to lead as he is the quickest of them. Fantastic Eight could race with him or settle off Fabulous One, with Almababy and Super Lifeline nearby. Sea Jade and House Of Fun should track the pace behind them with Verbinsky and Wah May Friend next.
Archippus, Born In China, Fabulous One, House Of Fun and Fantastic Eight are all working very well and all have chances. My first choice is the improving 4-year-old Fantastic Eight who has his first start in Class 2 but is in fantastic form and should be well positioned behind the pace with Archippus, my second choice, with Zac Purton on board who is in terrific form too.
I would put Mr Genuine as my third pick who will have to come from the back but will get a 7-pound allowance with Matthew Poon riding. As mentioned before, one cannot ignore Fabulous One, House Of Fun, Born In China or even Wah May Friend who has a bad draw, but I believe that especially Fantastic Eight is a horse with further potential.
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