I left Hong Kong for Melbourne about two weeks ago as I felt my parents were asking for me and I needed to see and thank them for everything they sacrificed to give me the best they could. They’re buried next to each other in the peaceful surroundings of Springvale. They’re doing fine. The same can’t be said about their home- and mine- for many years- Hong Kong. Hong Kong is struggling to survive. To say that this one time fabulous city has lost its compass is putting it mildly. While many other cities are resuming “normal transmission” and getting back to living, most in Hong Kong continue to be consumed with uncertainty, suspicion and fear. It’s a fear of pretty much everything. Maybe this has to do with decades of being morally bankrupt. Leaving the city at midnight a few weeks ago and walking through an empty airport was like entering the twilight zone. I have never ever been more scared. That lonely walk through a once bustling airport has left me scarred and scared. That eerie feeling of being alone will live with me forever. Speaking to those in Hong Kong, I only hear rattling chains of negativity- and anger and a lack of motivation. What secrets they’re keeping hid about their mental being is anyone’s guess. Seeing such a wonderful city left- yes, left- to fall apart and its people receiving little empathy though there’s plenty of hypocrisy from those still hanging in there to make a few more extra millions before they leave is something that reeks of rampant greed. To write about something like Hong Kong horse racing seems so trivial. What does it even mean to me? Nothing much really other than perhaps having the occasional 6Up bet, and, more importantly, a front row seat to watch the new nouveau riche feeding their voracious appetite for more and more money plus a different view of Hong Kong greed at work. Being a writer, everything goes into my upcoming book and maybe the words will provide answers and solutions. Maybe these words will help more than those playing Let’s Pretend... Will I return to Hong Kong? Not in the near future. Many left some years earlier with their retirement plans and golden parachutes strapped on before the Big Char Siu Bao Crumble. Most of my friends recently left or are about to leave. My partner moved to Singapore over a year ago and has no plans to return to where she was born. The family I once had in Hong Kong are no longer in my life- and me in theirs. So much for flesh and blood. It is what it was and it’s now what it is. It’s never too late to start living again with those who give your life new meaning and strong love. Hans Ebert, April 2022
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It will be a ride that will be talked about for a very very long time- Nash Rawiller angling Think It Over out to the grandstands in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Randwick last Saturday and giving the Kerry Parker trained galloper the freedom to run his own race and where the going was better.
It was a brilliant tactical winning move that didn’t need any thinking over. It was a split second instinctive move that saw the 36-1 longshot power home all on his lonesome. Not to be left out of The Day Of The Rawillers, son Campbell produced a gem of a ride on Aston Rapova to win the last at Morphetville.
Getting back to the racing at Randwick, what was entertaining and exuding good vibes and fun was the diversity of everything. Despite the heavy track, the sun was shining and there were outstanding rides. These came from the often underrated Sam Clipperton who’s suddenly making his presence felt. There was a brilliant front running ride from Rachel King, below, on Knights Order to take the Group 1 Sydney Cup for the training partnership of Lady Gai Gai and The Bott.
James McDonald chipped in with a well judged winner in the last and, of course, the tour de force from The Gnasher. Of course, all this made me think about Hong Kong as a city and what’s not happening with Hong Kong racing.
It was a difficult thing to hear about one’s home when someone I had met the night before at a soirée in Melbourne for Ferrari introduced me to her friends as being from “the city that once was”. She might have a point. Apart from Hong Kong having stalled, there’s one thing after another hobbling Hong Kong racing. Once the envy of the world, today, the racing is forced to carry on behind closed doors and to empty grandstands. The longer this goes on, the more difficult it’s going to be to stay relevant, the more difficult it is to make a comeback and the more tedious the racing starts to look. Time waits for no one. Very rich and powerful Chinese horse owners are threatening to throw their expensive toys out of the cot because they cannot attend the races- and have winning photos which are all linked to the importance of “face” and their other bigger business interests.
Jockeys and trainers are kept in mothballs and unable to communicate with the outside world, something that has created a somewhat strained division within the ranks. Sure, much of these restrictions have to do with following unpopular government mandates to achieve Zero Covid-19, so here’s hoping that those highly paid HKJC executives at least watched the racing product from Randwick and learned something from it. The presentation was excellent- the tracking shots showing the excitement of the people on course- none wearing masks and hugging and kissing each other in the excitement of it all- the drone shots etc, and how, thanks to the race calls of the always professional and entertaining Darren Flindell, audiences at home, or wherever they were, became part of the on-course action. For decades, the Hong Kong racing media has been reticent to criticise the potholes in the makeup of the city’s racing product when knowing full well that smoke and mirrors were stirring the wok. Nothing changes for the better by turning a blind eye and refusing to admit that wheels have dropped off and there’s a need for an overhaul. The quality of the broadcasting and the “production value” of HKJC produced programmes like “Racing To Win” with the three amigos looking as if they’ve just woken up after a siesta is hardly the stuff that’s going to offer any kumbaya moments to its audience- if there is one. Yet, these looney toons are allowed to carry on with the Chinese versions featuring Methuselah and his wobble heads hardly breathing new life into something that needs resuscitation.
It doesn’t matter about the million dollar babies who are flying way too close to the sun of libel suits by openly mentioning things like “Brazilian cartels” at work and “double standards”. If things are so bad, the exit door is over there. They may huff and puff, but we should all know by now that they won’t leave. Though worth millions, they’re still riding and training to feed their voracious appetites for more and more money.
As always, it’s the usual suspects continuing to be Oliver Twisted, and out of sync with reality. There’s a lack of empathy on all sides despite whatever might be said to what the dwindling and ageing local population is going through. Unable to leave Hong Kong like, especially expats, who, even earlier than 2019 when the local droogs bashed the city to smithereens, escaped with their ill-gotten billions, what’s left are people suffocating with fear of being quarantined and reduced to being content with the crumbs thrown their way. It’s an awful and heartbreaking atmosphere. With “elections” for a new Chief Executive coming up, and the unpopular Carrie Lam smartly side-stepping running for a second term, what’s going to be interesting to watch is what her successor, the tough and pro Beijing hardliner John Lee, does to loosen the chains keeping Hong Kong under lock and key like Kunta Kinte.
As for the future of Hong Kong racing, those who believe that everything stops and starts with this pastime need a reality check. Let’s start by saying that no one with even a soupçon of marquee value wishes to travel to Hong Kong and be part of the city’s racing community. It’s laughable hearing names like James McDonald, David Eustace and Chris Waller mentioned as being interested in moving to Hong Kong. Children, please.
Hong Kong racing would be bloody lucky to attract Mauritian rider Laqdar Romaly who’s doing very well for himself in Western Australia.
As a key racing executive admitted when asked about the arrival in Hong Kong fairly recently of two jockeys from Australia to bolster the riding ranks, beggars can’t afford to be choosers. At least saying that was a good starting point in facing the truth that Hong Kong racing has fallen several notches down the totem pole of world class racing. It’s also lost as there’s so much of nothing going on.
Those bothering to follow this pastime in Hong Kong these days are not on Twitter and Instagram. Being Chinese, most are on Weibo and have their own YouTube channels where “influencers” hint broadly at what they believe is ailing Hong Kong racing. There’s quite a buffet of subjects being discussed, whether true or false. Welcome to social media.
News that veteran trainer Paul O’Sullivan was leaving at the end of the season started on a Facebook page- in Chinese. Apparently, he’s not leaving, but who really knows? Nothing against the trainer, but does anyone care? On Sunday, there was word circulating that the Hong Kong Jockey Club CEO was going to say Au Revoir and leave for France. There’s some truth to that. He and his wife are leaving for a three week summer break. Meanwhile, only a serial doofus would deny that without tourism and countries issuing warnings about the political dangers of travelling to Hong Kong, the future of the city, let alone that of horse racing, is on wobbly footing. As has always been said, if a city has lost its pizazz and safety zone that cannot attract tourists, nothing else in it can work- and this includes horse racing where no longer are jockeys and trainers “celebrities” and “influencers”. This might have been true in the Eighties and Nineties. Today? No. The local grassroots population of Hong Kong are only interested in making it through from one day to the next. Those flaunting their wealth is only rubbing salt in the wound and not a smart thing to do, especially in desperate times like these suicide rates have soared, mental health issues are kept hidden and where some have nothing to lose.
Horse racing in Hong Kong has become predictable and is looking old- very old. There’s no denying this plus, more and more, it’s being viewed suspiciously by the local town criers who now have the online world to wage their wars. The current crop of main players are going around in circles over and over again for one reason: the huge money and low taxes on offer. They’re unhappily happy to keep singing that ABBA song on Repeat. Hypocrisy is everywhere. There always is when there’s no emotional attachment to something and when it’s all about the money, the money, the money...
The turnover from each race day might give the government several hundred million in betting taxes, but for the Hong Kong Jockey Club, the one tangible ace in the hole is how its Charities Trust can be seen as being beneficial to Hong Kong and its people.
This objective cannot be achieved with a few paid for corporate advertorials accompanied by some happy snaps.
What about this Charities Trust supporting some exciting new Hong Kong startups? Nothing against helping the elderly, but surely there’s something younger and less of that Corporate Speak by moving in this direction? And if tourism has come to a full stop, there ARE ways in which to bring memories of the golden days of Hong Kong overseas through entrepreneurial thinking and multi media projects. Perhaps then, many in the city (and overseas) will understand how exactly everyone is “Riding High Together”, another slice of vapid creativity from the Club that sounds like a Cheech and Chong movie. Speaking of which, imagine staring at the poster below after a trip on the Marrakesh Express...
When working with the HKJC on what became the successful Happy Wednesday brand with a small team from the Club and a handpicked group of freelance talent, we were given the freedom to make the impossible possible. There’s no reason why this recipe can’t be repeated.
As for those still in Hong Kong who have contributed nada to the city, they’ll soon strap on their golden parachutes and fly out with the millions they’ve made over the years by being, well, sycophantic dough boys who have enjoyed their expat packages and nights out at Amazonia. As for the Hong Kong they leave behind, one guesses it will continue as “the city that once was”. Hope not, but denial is not a river in Egypt.
