Well, what’s there to say about the races on Sunday other than, We told you so. And we’ll get into more Told you so’s like sand in an hourglass...
Trainers Frankie Lor and John Size fired blanks whereas no matter how hard the Zac and João Show tried to deliver the goods for audiences, bad draws, bad luck and top weights stopped them in their tracks. (We did warn you about things seldom going according to script, especially in horse racing when things look “easy”)
With turnover nearing HK$1.7 billion, it was another winning day for the Hong Kong Jockey Club with the government gaining around twenty percent of that in betting taxes for its coffers.
The one real upside to this numbers game, which sometimes lapses into nouveau riche and old school vulgarity, is that the community benefits through most of this money being ploughed back to enhance the lives of the elderly, benefit hospitals, education etc- priorities for the new Hong Kong.
During these lockdown days when many in the city are picking up the pieces after seeing their small businesses and life savings go up in smoke with unemployment rearing its ugly head, there’s a tremendous need for the contributions of the HKJC Charities Trust.
Its dated “Riding High Together” theme aside, the multi dimensional work of the Charities Trust is way too often taken for granted, or misses the mark and is unfortunately reduced to bland “advertorials”.
As for the racing on what was Chairmen’s Day, it was good and competitive with races named after, well, former Chairmen of the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
This had us wondering if there might ever be memorial Cup races named after such game changers to Hong Kong racing like trainers Ivan Allan, pictured below with Lester Piggott, the legendary George Moore and, er, perhaps, the colourful character that was Brian Kan? Kan do or no Kan do?
We have also thought out aloud for several years why, especially the races at Happy Valley, can’t be more creatively named and marketed. If those much-missed Happy Wednesday nights were still taking place, perhaps there might have been the opportunity to sneak in The Tough Nut Handicap, The Attila The Hun Sprint, the Django Unchained Freedom Cup etc plus helping to market the jockeys on online platforms other than Twitter.
Even Elon Musk no longer wants Twitter. Wonder why...
Surely, giving these races names and some personality might bring some pizzazz and consumer interest to proceedings rather than having race after race named after, we think, some unknown district board council area? Surely?
Win, lose or draw, its been an interesting horse racing season with plenty of changes and much to take on board including the realisation that Hong Kong- and the world- has changed forever along with consumer habits. This doesn’t mean recoiling in fear and suffering from George Castanza-type shrinkage.
These major changes mean being sensitive to the mood of the city, knowing one’s strengths and weaknesses, and understanding the importance in the strategic positioning of, in this instance, the racing product- and the Hong Kong Jockey Club. It’s about everything coming together to create a unique win-win situation- for all of Hong Kong- and with the future in mind.
