ENG-2000 — Page 470

RECREATION, SPORT AND THE ARTS

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The Hong Kong Jockey Club

In its core business of racing, the Hong Kong Jockey Club scaled new heights in 2000. December's Hong Kong International Races, the third richest race day in the world with $45 million in prize money, attracted top horses, jockeys and trainers from nine countries, bringing together the best from the northern and southern hemispheres. Three of the international races — the Hong Kong Cup, Hong Kong Mile and Hong Kong Vase are now classified as Group One, the highest competitive level of the sport.

As the Hong Kong Cup is the final leg of the Emirates World Series Racing Championship, the eyes of the racing world were on the contenders in that race. The race, and with it the championship, was won by Fantastic Light from the United Arab Emirates, ridden by UK-based Frankie Dettori who, for the second year in succession, earned the accolade of world champion jockey. The action from the international races was beamed to a global television audience in 60 countries and covered by a 300-strong international press corps.

Earlier in the year, Fairy King Prawn made history by becoming the first Hong Kong horse to win an overseas Group One race Japan's Yasuda Kinen.

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On the charity side, the club continued to take a proactive approach in providing support to the most needy in society. Over 170 charities and community organisations benefited from $1,146 million in donations, a 7.2 per cent increase over the previous year. For its financial year ending on June 30, 2000, the club paid $11,203 million in betting duty and $1,123 million in lottery duty to the Government. The total tax payments by the club amounted to nearly 11 per cent of the Government's direct and indirect tax revenues in 1999-2000.

Recreation and Sports Programmes

With the aim of promoting sport at all levels of the community, the LCSD organised 22 000 recreation and sports activities for 1 253 440 participants of all ages and abilities in 2000. The total cost of these programmes was $94 million. In addition, the department organised a series of major recreation and sports programmes including the Corporate Games, the Masters Games, the 'Healthy Exercise For All' Campaign and the Recreation and Sports Highlights programme for persons with a disability.

With the assistance of the respective National Sports Associations, 567 activities were organised under the 'Young Athletes Training Scheme' programme, which provided training in swimming, badminton, table tennis, football and basketball for 17 000 participants.

District Basketball and Football Teams

With a view to generating greater public interest in sport and fostering a stronger sense of belonging to individual district communities, the LCSD set up district football and basketball teams in the HKSAR's 18 districts with the assistance of the Hong Kong Football Association and the Hong Kong Basketball Association. Over 3 900 youngsters enrolled as members of the district teams, and 233 training courses and inter-district competitions were held in 2000.