Changes to 2004/2005 Major Racedays & HK Pattern Race Programme Speaker : Ciaran Kennelly Head of Handicapping, Race Planning & International Racing Department

Changes to 2004/2005 Major Racedays

National Day Meeting Sunday 3 October 2004 National Day – Fri 1 Oct Mid-Autumn Festival fixture – Wed 29 Sept

Ladies' Purse Day Meeting Sunday 17 October 2004 Used to be in November Last Season new marketing initiative – several sponsors on the Ladies' Purse Day

Ladies' Purse Day Meeting This season : Panasonic Cup – 6 Nov Cathay Pacific Cup Trial – 14 Nov Cathay Pacific Mile / Sprint Trial – 21 Nov Chevalier Cup – 28 Nov

Ladies' Purse Day Meeting To ensure the day can be marketed in a similar fashion as last year, hence changed to October

Changes to HK Pattern Race Programme

Champion Sprint Series In the past, several legs been run in conjunction with other feature races, e.g. 02/03 Centenary Sprint Cup – HK Derby 03/04 Chairman's Sprint Prize – APQEII Cup

This season each leg running on its own : Bauhinia Sprint Trophy – 23 January (1 Feb) Centenary Sprint Cup – 27 February (13 Mar) Chairman's Sprint Prize – 3 April (25 Apr) Champion Sprint Series

Advantages : To better identify the Series, and To enable Club to obtain sponsorship for the Series

4 Year Old Classic Races Mercedes-Benz HK Classic Mile – 11 February Mercedes-Benz HK Derby – 13 March (21 March) Avoid clash with Rugby World Cup Sevens (18 – 20 Mar)

Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup run on APQEII Cup Day – 24 April (22 May) 5 weeks after Chairman's Trophy 3 weeks before Champions Mile 1400 m (1600 m)

Champions Mile To be run on 14 May (1 May) 3 weeks after APQEII Cup / Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup 3 weeks before Yasuda Kinen in Japan

Sha Tin Vase 1200 m (1000 m) To be run on 21 May (6 June) 7 weeks after Chairman's Sprint Prize 4 weeks after Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup

Sha Tin Mile Trophy Class 1 Handicap on final day (Group 3) Not supported over the years 8 runners last season

HVMCHVMC Last season, generally well received. Benefits observed : Well covered by the media, more talking points e.g. the yellow saddle cloth the leading table horses running with points earned

HVMCHVMC Quite a number of leading horses ran repeatedly at HV during the HVMC period - Dashing Champion6 times - Reward7 times - Amo6 times

HVMCHVMC Enhance betting interest of runners having a chance in the Challenge With wide coverage by media, did draw customer's attention to Happy Valley racing

HVMCHVMC While the major races as well as Trainers Championship, in general dominated by big stables, the HVMC did give a chance to others as last season's results suggested.

HVMCHVMC 2003/2004 Points Scored Trainer 1 st Dashing Champion 40 Peter Ng 2 nd Splendid Patrol36 Tony Millard 2 nd Fighting Mascot36 David Ferraris

2004/2005

No change to the following : The Race Class – Class 3 and above 1 st nd - 63 rd - 44 th - 35 th st - $650,0002 nd - $250,0003 rd - $100,000 The Points System – The Award – HK$1,000,000 HVMC2004/2005HVMC2004/2005

Modifications 1.The Challenge Period This Season - October to February (5 months) Last Season - September to December (4 months) HVMC2004/2005HVMC2004/2005

Advantages Horses are better prepared or running into form when the Challenge starts, now that it starts a month later. Horses are having more opportunities of running. 17 meetings at Happy Valley (last season 13). HVMC2004/2005HVMC2004/2005

Advantages With a five month span, horses are having a better chance to catch those on top of table. By concluding the HVMC at end of February, it will not affect the publicity of the HKIR. HVMC2004/2005HVMC2004/2005

Modifications 2.For horses of equal status at time of entry, priority of running given to the leading ten contenders in the last 5 HV meetings instead of 3 last season HVMC2004/2005HVMC2004/2005

Advantages to ensure the leading horses have more chances to find a suitable race HVMC2004/2005HVMC2004/2005 to create a more interesting and exciting finish to the HVMC.

Modifications 3.The trainer of the winner will receive a memento. HVMC2004/2005HVMC2004/2005

PP Overseas Form in Club's Website

PP Overseas Form Recent survey revealed customers are less interested in new PPs – unfamiliarity with the horse. "PP Overseas Performance" section added on HKJC Website on 20 August

PP Overseas Form This section includes : Overseas form of each PP. A background story about one or two leading horses in each shipment.

PP Overseas Performance New

Notes of E019

2004 / 2005 Season Number of Races per meeting Day - 9 or 10 Night - 7 or 8

End of Presentation

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