It’s about being able to read the tea leaves before having the bi luo chun spilled all over yourself and wondering who’s coming to yum cha at the Joy Luck Club.
At a time when many in Hong Kong have taken refuge under their beds with two years supply of provisions to keep new surges of variants at bay while continuing to live (?) in fear of human contact, domestic helpers, the elderly, hamsters, jabs and a war being waged, it almost borders on dark Pythonesque silly humour to be writing about horse racing- and which has to almost always do with making money.
Though offering up a few hours of downtime on television for some to keep minds busy, what’s there to do with money these days that can really help make a difference? How much money does one need, anyway? So why bother betting unless a $50 punter with nothing much to lose?
Of course, there are those who enjoy having more and more money as it’s become some weird competition to see who’s the richest in the land. It’s like penis envy, but with erectile dysfunction.
Those in the racing media gushing at various horse sales and all in a tizz about their successes? Why?
What’s their financial attachment to any of this other than happy to be hapless cheerleaders for the Elite Brigade?
Again, it’s about reading the tea leaves and knowing when to fold and when to bail as everything points to how something has to give.
Back in Hong Kong, the racing fraternity still forced to live inside the “racing bubble” continues with many right on the edges of having a Howard Beale moment and asking quite LOUDLY, HOW MUCH LONGER?
It’s suffocating, especially for those jockeys who need to keep their weight down, keep fit, and maintaining their mental faculties needed in a competitive and dangerous game for big money.
Sorry to say it, but it’s not unlike being paid performers in a circus- though certainly not paid peanuts and without an audience.
Ask those who come up with these rules and which has a schoolboy ring to it, the answer is always the same: That’s why they’re paid so well. Perhaps. But how and when are they going to enjoy all this sacrifice- along with those with young families?
Plus, there are others in horse racing who are paid millions and have accumulated billions over the years without having to be bubbles men.
It’s always been a hypocritical world and this hypocrisy becomes more visible in times like these.
Here’s perhaps an interesting aside: A doctor friend in Singapore was telling me how whatever virus that’s attacking us is not going to just magically go away.
His advice was to go outside, sing about letting the sunshine in, return to forever and being with people. If one were to get a fever, deal with it as you would any other time you weren’t feeling great.
To him, this builds up one’s immune system and it’s the way to get back to living with a positive mindset. As for constantly being scared...
As for the pros and cons of horse racing in Hong Kong and without getting too much into specifics, the jockey who’s lengths ahead of everyone else is- no surprise- Zac Purton. He won the Classic Cup on the Tony Cruz trained California Spangle yesterday.
He knows he’s simply the best as does everyone else. He’s pretty much got everything sewn up and is his own man who’s able to dine on Chicken Bresse- the world’s most expensive chicken- with Black Truffles specifically cooked for The Influencer.
Though not exactly nipping at Zac’s heels, no longer one would argue that Blake Shinn is a very very good Jockey, who is making his presence felt in Hong Kong racing with some good horses in his portfolio- like winning on Cordyseps Six for Richard Gibson yesterday.
Someone else quickly winning over trainers including Tony Millard, who one hears is not the easiest person with whom to work, is Brazilian rider Ruan Maia.
Frankly, Tony Millard has always been a very good trainer, turns out his runners magnificently, and if he has trust in a jockey, this says much for Ruan Maia and his future in Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Chinese racing media are apparently on a roll and asking some tough questions these days in their own inscrutable and cryptic ways.
The late outspoken Chinese racing television critic- Tung Biu- would say that it’s either high time or five years too late. He was not one to mince words.
The more important racing influencers in Hong Kong are not on Twitter nor Facebook or Instagram.
They have their own subscription-based YouTube channels and from where they take aim at anything and anyone- albeit politely- rides, team riding, trainers, assistant trainers, special privileges like Get Out Of Jail Free cards, their thoughts on suspensions, Stewards enquiries and those one-time sacred cows and untouchables whose crowns are slipping noticeably.
Does one really have to spell it out? Just watch the last three races at Shatin on Sunday and spot the Carrie like horror shows.
Brian Kan, the legendary champion trainer who Hong Kong racing lost a couple of weeks ago and someone unafraid to go where angels fear to tread, must have been rolling in his grave with laughter watching the rides of one particular superstar jockey.
Mr Kan must have thought he was watching reruns of a Hong Kong race meeting in the Eighties.
Right, Kev?
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