It’s almost impossible to describe horse racing in Hong Kong without experiencing what it is, first hand, and making the time to understand how it’s so closely tied to the rhythm of the city- its mood, culture, superstitions and rather unique eccentricities.
Without this experience, it’s like trying to explain the taste of dim sum to those who wouldn’t know chow fan from a ceiling fan.
Being a Hong Kong Belonger for over five decades, I still don’t know if I followed horse racing or horse racing followed me or whether this “national pastime” somehow became part of daily life.
This was despite horse racing being frowned upon by every woman who mattered and came into my life. It certainly caused my marriage to crash and burn. Anyway…
Horse racing really was and still is The Biggest- and only- show in town.
This show of shows goes back to those days when Shanghai was the Paris of the Orient before being adopted by those colonial days of taipans, Tiffin at the Peninsula, and noble houses that still hold a million secrets.
Hundreds of thousands aspired to be members of what was then the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club in the most exciting and quirky city in the world.
My mind was on rewind on Sunday while watching the races from Shatin on television.
I was suddenly taken back to those days when first hearing about horse racing in Hong Kong from my aunts and uncles, and then learned more about how the game is played by watching the races on television.
There were then the various back stories heard when going out as teenagers on a Saturday night and eavesdropping on the post mortems about who won what and why from the racing writers and their friends- football players, lawyers, doctors, hoteliers, celebrity chefs…
Sure, some of the races were fixed and everyone seemed to know about “secret signals” and which jockeys and trainers were on the dodgy side of the fence, but this seemed to make the horse racing more exciting, and “Goodfellas” styled cool and dangerous.
Back then, there was one racetrack in Happy Valley, eight races on a Saturday afternoon with many of the jockeys being from Australia as were most of the horse trainers.
These craggy faced little men who were a cross between Joe Pesci and Davy Jones of the Monkees wielded enormous power amongst the super rich local horse owners who craved their friendship for more power as power bought them that very Chinese thing known as “face”…and everything and everyone “face” could buy.
It really was a movie in real time. It added much to the allure of the “mysterious Orient”, the riches to be had in a city just finding its feet, how power corrupts and also how power and wanting more power was accepted as being narcotic, hypnotic and addictive.
Oliver Twist should have grown up in Hong Kong.
Those black and white visuals snapped back to full colour as Hong Kong born apprentice rider Britney Wong was first past the post in the first race at Shatin racecourse- eleven races and showcasing the best equine talent in Hong Kong like Romantic Warrior with big race winning international credentials.
Hong Kong racing has made some mighty big strides by using what’s available in the city to the HKJC- something that many forget. It’s worth remembering. It’s all about progress.
Of course, it’s a very different post Covid Hong Kong these days with everything and everyone trying to find next steps.
There’s been an exodus of especially Westerners from Hong Kong, and the city is now very much Chinese in its brand personality whereas with jockeys and trainers from different parts of the world- Australia, Europe, South Africa, Mauritius- horse racing is the city’s most international product.
I returned to watching the racing on television and saw young Luke Ferraris win the third race of day on a longshot. It was a stark reminder of how time doesn’t stand still.
Here was someone originally from South Africa, who grew up in Hong Kong when his father was a horse trainer in the city, and is now seen as one of the most exciting “young guns” riding in the city.
Luke Ferraris represents one of the many changing faces of a constantly changing Hong Kong.
Changing or morphing into what- and who for?
Guess time will tell.
With no time to lose, it comes down to the racing product and whose evolution and team spirit working with officialdom in Hong Kong and China on the ambitious Greater Bay Area project is being guided by the experience and guile of the HKJC CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges and his team.
At 70 years young and very much a global racing man, only a fool will question his tenacity to make something happen that will be not be more of the same, and instead, something attractive to the generations to come- something of a blueprint for the future which they can take and fashion into what works best for them and their times.
With much of Hong Kong seemingly stalled to rethink strategies, horse racing is the gift that keeps on giving- and have millions continuing to believe in the dreams of winning in life.
Oh, and Romantic Warrior won and left the rest of the field in the dust.
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