Sure, he’s moody. We all get cranky once in a while. Some get more cranky than others. Often one thinks he’s angry with the world. It’s usually anger aimed at some owner or the plumbing gone wrong in his apartment. But in its own weird way, this is what has endeared David Ferraris aka Darth to many of us for almost two decades.
Tonight at Happy Valley, Darth saddles up his last runners and Hong Kong racing will not be the same without him around. He can be odd, but he’s a good oddball with a great sense of self deprecating humour.
I first met David Ferraris when he was training the brilliant and very much underrated Vengeance Of Rain.
With regular rider Anthony Delpech, here was a galloper that did Hong Kong racing proud. All the many successes at home and in Dubai of Vengeance Of Rain, Hong Kong’s Most Popular Horse Of 2007, also shone a very bright light on his trainer- A Man Called Darth.
I gave him that name- Darth- after meeting him, listening to him, and knowing that he did not suffer fools gladly. He was also good company. He even inspired Caspar Fownes and myself to have Darth-offs and add these into our repertoire of impersonations of Hong Kong racing personalities.
As for David/Darth, he was and remains a very good horseman, and a passionate racing man who always did the best he could with the horses he had.
Could he have been a better public relations man? In his business, apparently. But not being in his business, who knows?
For whatever reason, and despite training the great Vengeance Of Rain, formerly known as Subscribed when owned by Lloyd Williams, Darth did not attract the big spending owners to his yard.
There were a few like his loyal amigo “Dude” and the Chater horses, but these were hardly in the elite classes.
My great friend, the late barrister Kevin Egan, was part of the Chater Syndicate and would keep me informed about how their horses- and Darth- were doing. Some did very well, others, not so well. But that’s racing.
When writing the Racingbitch column, the adventures of Darth were a regular feature. This was before I even knew his son was named Luke.
We would chat, and if and when someone had managed to piss him off, I could feel his pain. We all could. Then the frustration would boil over.
Though not being knee deep in the racing world, in a small city like Hong Kong, news travelled fast when Darth was not happy about something. Most of us just shrugged it off. What could we do?
Still vivid in my mind was us first meeting up at the Champagne Bar with “Dude” before going to see Norah Jones in concert.
Being with the Regional Office of EMI Music at the time, I was meant to present Norah with a Gold Record backstage. She was our best selling artist at the time. She was also pretty high maintenance.
We never made it to the gig as one drink led to the next and we decided instead to have dinner at the Grand Hyatt. I made some excuse to Norah’s management and had someone else from the office present the Gold Record to her.
When finally leaving the hotel, we ran into...Norah. She asked where I was and I tap danced my way around that by saying I was in the audience with my friends and introduced her to Darth and Dude.
“How did we sound, Hans?” she asked. I somehow dealt with that. By now, my friends had done a runner and I returned to the hotel to plough through a couple of bottles of red with Norah. It was a tough gig.
Over the years and being in charge of the Happy Wednesday brand for the Hong Kong Jockey Club, I would see David and wife Pam walking in before the races. He would come towards me with a smile, grab me in a headlock and ask me in his familiar raspy voice, “How are you, you little f***er? I read what you wrote about me. Very funny”.
Now we’ve come to this, his last night of training in Hong Kong.
Am I surprised that he’s suddenly called it quits? Nothing about Hong Kong surprises me today.
The city reminds me of “Quinn The Eskimo” and with almost everyone I know “building ships and boats” and making exit plans.
The city is not what it was and no one knows what it is morphing into as there’s uncertainty everywhere.
It’s now all about making one’s self happy and not suffering fools gladly.
If deciding he’s had enough and leaving Hong Kong and Hong Kong racing is going to make David Ferraris happy, here’s someone who’s happy for him.
Why stay on and be miserable? Life’s too short.
May The Horse Be With You, Darth. Be happy.
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