There was a strange vibe to the race meeting at Shatin on Sunday. It wasn’t just the freezing cold weather and the first real yielding track in many years.
For many longtime Hong Kong Belongers, it is the realisation that this city has changed forever. And with this change that has come about through a surge in Covid-19 cases where many are living in fear of an invisible enemy playing pinball with minds against a backdrop where life imitates a dark sci fi movie, priorities have changed along with coming to grips with what might lie ahead and how to accept these.
One couldn’t say that any of these changes are exclusive to Hong Kong, but they have created a different mood in what was once a vibrant, international, and highly entertaining city.
It would be good to think that Hong Kong is taking a short break to take stock of a situation and that life goes on- though in a different way.
Change is always tough to accept, but we’ve done it before and we’ll do it again though we might be in for a bumpy ride.
Speaking of which- rides- it was a brilliant ride from Blake Shinn that saw him take out the G1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup on the Douglas Whyte trained Russian Emperor. It was Whyte’s second Group 1 winner as a trainer in a month.
Blake Shinn has always been a very very good rider- a Melbourne Cup winning jockey- who seems to prefer to travel under the radar and let his successes speak for his talent. He’s an enigma and that’s fine.
He also seems very much a team player and which seems to suit the personalities and work ethic of Douglas Whyte, Caspar Fownes and John Size.
All are trainers extremely familiar with the landscape of Hong Kong life and the racing and which jockeys work best with and for them. Much has to do with trust issues.
Douglas Whyte isn’t out to win popularity awards. He’s out to win races and win in life and has that fierce determination that won him thirteen consecutive Hong Kong champion
jockey titles.
No one’s ever going to eclipse this feat and he knows it. There might even be a wry smile on his face at those who are constantly trying to upstage his legacy. He knows that they won’t win this particular race.
Knowing him pretty well, Douglas has set goals and he’s ticking them off one by one.
He and Blake Shinn work extremely well together because there’s no competition between them. There’s trust and mutual respect.
This teamwork was seen in the win of Russian Emperor. And it was this team that has the trust of owners for whom Whyte trained the quinella in the race with Savvy Nine and Matthew Chadwick aboard.
Like Hong Kong is changing, so is the cast in horse racing.
Though unable to read the tea leaves, it’s not difficult to see that Harry Bentley, who added to his win tally yesterday, is going to be part of the future of horse racing in Hong Kong- if he’s willing to stay and take up the challenge.
The others? Apart from the very popular and always positive Karis Teetan, Derek Leung, Vincent Ho, Vagner Borges, Ruan Maia and a rejuvenated Matthew Poon and Matty Chadwick, that answer is kinda up in air.