HKJC CEO Blog

Last Saturday Lucky Nine made his second appearance in Australia in the G1 VRC Sprint Classic. We all had great expectations after his good run in the Manikato Stakes, and our hero started as the race favourite in both Australia and our simulcast pool in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, he ran a below-par race to finish…

Last month when I was in France, I attended the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) annual conference, at which we discussed the direction we should take to facilitate the easier movement of horses between countries. This would enable more of the world’s best horses to compete against one another more often.  During these discussions,…

Racing offers plenty of excitement to its fans and there are few moments in sport as thrilling as a tight finish in a horse race.  There were two important races last week that were only decided in the final few strides.  Our Executive Director of Racing, Bill Nader, has just returned from the Breeders’ Cup…

It’s no secret that horseracing, like many sports, has for the most part traditionally been viewed as being male dominated. Of course, that was true in the past – up to about the middle of the last century women were not even allowed to own racehorses in Britain, and the first professional female jockey only…

I’m sure I’m not the only one to be impressed by the progress and improvement that Gold-Fun has shown so far this season.  His victory in Sunday’s Oriental Watch Sha Tin Trophy was very exciting and had all the hallmarks of a top-class effort – now it will be interesting to see whether the four-year-old…

In the past two days in Hong Kong, one of the prominent news stories was the government’s public consultation on population policy.   An ageing population is a problem that is now affecting many developed countries and regions worldwide and that includes Hong Kong.  The Club has been involved in looking at ways to address the…

It’s been a busy few days, travelling between the UK and Hong Kong to attend the British Champions Day meeting at Ascot last Saturday.  I had only a brief 24-hour stay in the UK because I wanted to return to Hong Kong for the Happy Valley meeting on Sunday, but it was certainly worthwhile as…

I always think it’s important for me to find time whenever possible amongst my various duties to keep on top of the local racing action and this week I made sure to watch the Sha Tin barrier trials, which took place on Tuesday morning.  Two of our stars used one of the trials to gear…

It is no secret to anyone who knows me or who reads this blog that I love football, so you can imagine how pleased I was on Friday night when my home country, Germany, sealed a place in the World Cup Finals in Brazil next summer. The German team was always in control against the…

I’m sure you all know by now that we have a very exciting new recruit to our already impressive jockey roster – Joao Moreira. Making trip in preparation for his imminent relocation to our city, Moreira took the chance to meet local media at Sha Tin on Thursday morning, and talked about his background and…