Chan salutes Arculli as he looks forward to big challenges ahead

Incoming Jockey Club chairman John Chan Cho-chak paid tribute to outgoing office bearer Ronald Arculli last night as he accepted the new post knowing that he has a full plate if he is to keep racing ahead of the competition.

Building the 2008 Olympic equestrian facilities, the introduction of rebates for punters and the construction of the club's Beijing clubhouse were at the top of Chan's list of tasks for the near future.

'I want to pay tribute to Ronald Arculli, who has made such a great contribution to the racing industry and to the Hong Kong community over the past four years,' Chan (pictured) said. 'It is a great honour to be chairman of the club but I know it will be a big challenge to follow in his footsteps, and there is plenty to do in the coming months.'

Arculli probably left his greatest stamp on the Jockey Club chairmanship with his tireless pursuit of the vital tax reforms, which passed into legislation during July, and the subsequent results of those changes will be high among Chan's priorities for racing. 'We have a new racing season starting on September 10 and, in the light of the recent tax changes, the implementation of new betting rebates is ahead of us,' Chan said. 'We are making suitable arrangements for that and we will also have other initiatives coming to keep our competitive edge and to keep racing attractive in the face of the continuing and growing competition.'

Chan said the club's construction work on Olympic equestrian facilities at Sha Tin and Sheung Shui faced 'a race against time' but he expected them to meet a tight schedule to be ready for an August 2007 test event.

'All the work has proceeded very smoothly. Everything has gone to our timetable but it is a tight timetable nevertheless and there is not a moment to be lost,' he said.