As Hong Kong waits to see what incoming Chief Executive John Lee might have in mind for the future of a city that’s been in a holding pattern for what seems like an eternity, the best one can do is take a deep breath and exhale slowly.
Before moving on, I respect John Lee. Always have and don’t really give a damn what others might think. People in glass houses...
One would think that with his background as head of security, first and foremost, other than to win the confidence of the Hong Kong people, it would be to maintain the image of Hong Kong being one of the safest cities in the world.
If this means rounding up those perhaps planning to run amuck again in the name of democracy and further batter a city already bashed and bruised by peaceful demonstrations being taken over by the droogs, lock them up and throw away the key.
Hong Kong needs and deserves a clear path to move forward.
It needs this clear path for there to be new building blocks put in place. This is not going to happen overnight.
While waiting for the New Hong Kong, the city can only fall back on what is still available and offering some form of respite from the constant negativity- horse racing.
To some, this might seem daft, but Hong Kong racing is somehow not perceived as dangling some juicy carrots to entice the inner gambler in people to rise to the bait.
With racing twice a week, this is seen as time to finally exhale and become lost in the excitement of competitive racing.
Turnover figures? That’s the business of the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
To trot these numbers out too regularly, or at all, would perhaps not be the smart thing to do, especially at a time when many in the city are going through financial hardships.
Being in Singapore for an extended stay, it’s offered me the time I never had when with Universal Music and EMI Music and the pretty insignificant Singapore music market was part of my portfolio.
There’s now the time to try and understand the city better and especially how Singapore is dealing with living with Covid.
What can be said is that the city is dealing with this exceptionally well and led by The New Thinking of The New Entrepreneurs.
There’s so much already launched and new initiatives being readied.
These are exciting times for Singapore.
One thing to note is that though foreigners are encouraged to gamble, not so for Singaporeans as, according to friends here in the Lion City, there’s the possibility of them becoming easily addicted.
This is why locals must pay SG$100 to enter a casino whereas foreigners can walk in free.
Though not really understanding why even bother to have horse racing at all, it goes some way in explaining why the racing from the racecourse in Kranji is not seen on television in Singapore.
It’s not even spoken about- yet can be watched in Australia and some other smaller racing jurisdictions. Weird lah.
This is a very different scenario to those drawn to 24/7 punting on greyhound racing, harness racing and thoroughbred racing.
It’s something very much appreciated by those uninterested in falling prey to the marketing onslaught of bookmakers selling more and more and more ways of gambling.
What the hell does the message below even mean?
Having just spent three months in Melbourne, the initial excitement about being able to bet on the horses every day and almost everywhere, quickly dissipated.
This “unholy alliance” with horse racing became a tedious waste of time and, quite literally, a turn off.
It happens as different priorities and seeing new opportunities in old business models become far more clear and exciting.
Some might remember the days when horse racing in Singapore opened its doors to foreigners from overseas owning and racing horses.
As it was during the early days of racing in Macau, being a horse owner in Singapore was good fun.
There were also those interport races between Singapore and Hong Kong where, especially horses trained by Caspar Fownes, would run off with the big Cup races.
Though some involved in racing in Singapore didn’t like this as it seemed so one-sided, the big blow was when Singapore Airlines pulled out of sponsoring horse racing and put their big marketing dollars into backing what became the hugely popular F1 Weekend in Singapore.
With a huge array of big name international artists performing, the Singapore Grand Prix weekend attracted the world to the citywide Big Party.
If the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens once brought the world to the city for Sevens Weekend, F1 Weekend has done the same for Singapore.
Now cautiously living with Covid, Singapore is finding new ways to move forward.
Sure, there are restrictions, but Singaporeans are proud to mention how these are nothing like what has crippled Hong Kong.
There’s always been competition between Singapore and Hong Kong.
Many of us grew up believing that anything from Hong Kong was far superior to anything from Singapore.
Despite Singapore having everything Hong Kong had- and more- for some “historic” reason, it was never as good as what was happening in Asia’s World City.
*Of course today, Singapore has raced away whereas Hong Kong is still at the starting grid waiting for a new set of tyres.
There’s much planned in Singapore in the months ahead- food festivals, music festivals, concerts by big name international artists etc.
Singapore is making Hong Kong look like an also-ran in the ongoing competitiveness of The Tale Of Two Cities.
As a marketing person, the racing from Kranji might be able to bring something to the table. But if seen as something of a pariah or embarrassment, it remains hobbled.
Unlike Hong Kong, in Singapore, horse racing is not the only game in town.
With this in mind, what cannot be emphasised enough is this: horse racing in Hong Kong is accepted and perceived like nowhere else in the world.
Sure, it has its secrets and nothing is ever squeaky clean, but all this is harnessed well for “the greater good of all”.
It works.
It’s now time to have everything else work just as well and smoothly.
It’s time for Hong Kong to come together as a community and give the city a new and positive vibe.
Learning from what is happening in Singapore with an open mind might be a good place to start.
Never did I think that I would ever say this.
But I have.
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