It wasn’t something known by many, but known by enough, and now it’s official: Daniel Moor is calling time on Hong Kong racing after just a couple of months and returning to Melbourne where, apart from spending quality time with his family, he will be doing everything possible to pick up where he left off by riding Group 1 winners.
Once a longtime dream to ride in Hong Kong, and despite riding a couple of winners and doing his best to stay positive, what appears to have been the breaking point is, sure, missing his family, but also finding it tough to adapt to the stifling restrictions of staying put in Hong Kong ‘s “racing bubble” needed to “keep racing going”.
Unlike those who are always “leaving” Hong Kong, but can never seem to leave behind the money to be made while continuing to enjoy the city’s low taxes, Daniel Moor has politely said, well, No more. If, like others in Hong Kong who have been able to do so, he probably cannot wait to get out of a muddling city that’s going to take the Wisdom of Solomon to get its mojo back to attract tourism and be what it was. As we’ve always said, if a city is healthy, happy and offering people opportunities for a bright future, it has a positive chain reaction on everything and everyone. It makes many want to roll in the mud and dance naked to Santana with flowers in their hair while clicking castanets.
Once these kumbaya moments are replaced by restrictions, suspicion, confusion, anger, more restrictions and negativity, there are no takers and Humpty Dumpty becomes an unappetising omelette. This is Hong Kong today: A Frightened Omelette.
As for the horse racing, it’s the Zac, Karis and Joao Show- at least for the time being- and which can quickly become monotonous though the absolute joy of the Romantic Mauritian Warrior winning is always highly infectious. He is Hong Kong racing’s Mr Positivity.
The jockeys ranks desperately need to be replenished and what the hardcore local racing fan can’t seem to grasp is that there are not many takers like in the past to ride in Hong Kong. It’s kinda naive and stupid to say that this and that jockey is lap sap and how needed are better jockeys. If only it was this easy and there’s a conga line of choices as there once were...
A few months ago, everything seemed set for the return of popular South African hoop Grant van Niekerk to Hong Kong- only for this plan to be nixed.
The $64,000 question is who out there might be interested to be part of Hong Kong racing in 2022 no matter how much money there might- might- be these days? Forget all that “Rock Star lifestyle” and “five star living” clichés built around smoke and mirrors that jockeys in Hong Kong are said to enjoy and which they might have enjoyed in the Eighties and Nineties. These days? Save all that for Instagram and those who might think they know how Hong Kong works today. Nothing much is working these days. More to the point, nothing much is ALLOWED to work and the city is suffering from a serious brain drain. Many of those left are not exactly street savvy new thinking entrepreneurs. What Hong Kong doesn’t need is another Disneyland or Ocean Park- not when there’s even a nightlife and one has to wonder about the future of five star hotels if tourism continues to be a trickle. As for which jockeys might wish to ride in Hong Kong, beggars can’t afford to be choosers, and even then, it’s a very tough question to answer.
This isn’t made easier with an exodus by those who can afford to leave a city that’s in tatters. Hong Kong is desperately in need of a huge makeover and given to those who can lead it out of the current darkness. If the Hong Kong Jockey Club can somehow gently kickstart switching on that light, this would be wonderful for everyone. It’s not impossible. And it’s very much needed.
