There was a tenuous link with Hong Kong and Hong Kong racing at Morphetville on Saturday and the running and results of the Group 1 Australasian Oaks.
The race was won by the Busuttin and Young trained Glint Of Hope- a good fillip for Natalie Young who’s battling cancer- which was given a superb ride by Daniel Moor, below, a nice enough guy and the jockey, who despite having been in the city for around five minutes, went on Twitter to advise longtime Hong Kong Belongers to be positive about the future of their city.
Soon afterwards, he cut short his riding license and bailed out of Hong Kong’s bloated “racing bubble”. Perhaps buckets of reality bytes were poured over him...
Having already ridden 3-4 other winners since the quick return to Oz, we very much doubt he’s missing surviving in Hong Kong going around on no-hopers.
Also in the same race at Morphetville was Bundle Of Fun raced by Price Bloodstock who have a long and successful relationship with Hong Kong racing. The filly wasn’t expected to do much and she didn’t.
Moving right along...
With various restrictions in Hong Kong gradually being lifted before everything tanks completely, here’s hoping that racing in Hong Kong sees the folly of its ways in continuing to function in its paranoiac self-made bubble. Two years of forever blowing bubbles has surely taught everyone that nothing is the perfect ten percent solution.
People have short memories and Hong Kong horse racing, though considered by some to still be the best racing jurisdiction in the world, can’t afford to have its racing product continue going around and around to empty grandstands. Even the racing in Korea has crowds- unmasked crowds making Hello Kitty cuteness to the cameras.
Hong Hong racing also can’t continue to be seen as a sleepy and hollow television product that’s hardly “surging forward”. It’s looking as creaky as Cher or Madonna trying to smile.
Speaking of Cher and Madonna, the Father Of Lan Kwai Fong- Allan Zeman- a nice enough gentleman who, after a couple of months ago promising his unswerving support and offering only good vibes to supposed good friend and outgoing Chief Executive Carrie Lam, had a change of heart and switched allegiances to her successor John Lee in a rather grovelling Kokomo way.
Hong Kong is not “back”, Allan. Far from it. Hong Kong is on hold. It’s waiting to see what the city’s next Chief Executive and, hopefully, a new team of strategic thinkers capable of changing the game, will deliver. Enough of the vague blah blahs and more uncertainty.
Though the former security czar is seen by many to be a good, strong leader and not a meandering dim sum, John Lee is only one man.
He needs the right team around him to, first and foremost, quickly see the return of tourism to the city. No tourism, no nothing.
Even before any attempt at attracting tourists back again, there of course needs to be something to remind the world that there’s still a Hong Kong. Ocean Park and Disneyland nor Deliveroo will do.
There must also be measures put in place to make tourists and those returning to Hong Kong feel welcomed at the airport.
They cannot step off the plane after a long haul flight and be terrified to see cloaked people in space suits demanding to see various papers showing proof of being vaxxed, then taking Covid tests at the airport, waiting for the results etc etc before finally having a mandatory little holiday in a quarantine hotel. It’s frighteningly Orwellian with more than a hint of Ghostbusters.
Meanwhile, for racing fans, far more stimulating these days than some of the actual racing we’ve watched intermittently might be checking out Zac Purton on Instagram showing what a pre-racing bubble lifestyle some in the racing community enjoyed.
In a recent post, the Influencer is seen tucking into a delicious looking chicken dish made especially for him by a French master chef that was stuffed with all kinds of everything including the world’s most expensive caviar.
Zac then stands up and prepares Chocolate Profiteroles for himself and wifey Nicole before both probably burst into flames and went up in space with Elon Musk.
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