Nothing about the quirks of Hong Kong racing should surprise anyone who’s been here for some amount of time, but it never fails to be always entertaining and kinda ends up on the goofy side of the tracks.
Forget the unhinged rumour mill spitting out non-stop conspiracy theories with new ones added every time the feng shui is deemed to not be working.
There are also always the whims of the owners or their wives or their mistresses and their mistresses’ friends.
Let’s not forget the owner some years back who had suddenly become a homeopathic doctor and insisted to the trainer of his horse-Tony Cruz- that its feed include special herbal pills. He and his horse were shown the stable door.
There are then all those stories of horses moving stables, and jockeys losing rides, because the owner’s wife- or mistress- didn’t like their face.
It’s tough, especially for jockeys, when apart from actually getting on gallopers with winning chances and then doing their best to win, there’s also the competition to be pretty.
Take Brazilian jockey Ruan Maia, someone who’s hitting his stride and is now regularly riding winners with the few opportunities that he gets.
Here’s a very good jockey who makes the most of the opportunities that comes his way, but, still, these opportunities are few and far between. But why?
He’s definitely not exactly not pretty. He’s accessible to the media. He thanks the man above every time he rides a winner, and seems a very nice guy.
Hong Kong is still an international city and all about diversity.
It’s also an “equal opportunity” city.
Now that Ruan Maia is still easing himself into Hong Kong racing, succeeding and gaining more and more support, long may this winning streak run. And continue being pretty.
