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Writer's pictureHans Ebert

The “Who Cares?” Issue


 


THE DR DOOLITTLE AWARD



The connections of champion Hong Kong galloper Golden Sixty



From reading the quotes attributed to Trainer Francis Lui, regular jockey Vincent Ho and trainer Stanley Chan, Golden Sixty is extremely happy and really really really wants to keep racing next season- and which the galloper who has already amassed over HK$160m in prize money will do.


Hong Kong and the racing world- and the animal care people- wait to see what one assumes will be the final appearance by the champion miler before he retires to greener pastures.


But who knows anything for sure?


If the galloper wins or maybe even runs a placing, Team Golden Sixty will speak to the marvellous equine athlete and report back to us mere mortals about what he says.


More and more, this trio is reminding us of John Yuen who owned champion Hong Kong galloper Good Ba Ba.



Yuen retired Good Ba Ba, then brought him out of retirement to race in Macau for trainer Gary Moore, who moved him to Australia where the late trainer Ric Hore-Lacy raced the galloper a couple of times too many before there came the realisation that the horse had had enough and was finally retired to Living Legends. 



Let’s just hope that there’s a happily ever after ending to the Golden Sixty story.


If not, well, karma is a strange beast.




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Just when one thinks those responsible for marketing Hong Kong can’t lower their standards of what they consider to be “creative” anymore, the city’s tourism board produces something as goofy, random and hackneyed as the oddity below.


It’s certainly no “slam dunk”.


Most of those left in Hong Kong have no idea what a “slam dunk” even is.




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DR FAUX AND HIS DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED…



*The Hong Kong Jockey Club announces simulcast races from Mauritius, Sri Lanka and the usual stuff from unusual places at ungodly times and especially on Saturday nights which underlines the rather dire state of nightlife in Hong Kong.


Also announced is that Twilight Zone racing will seamlessly segue into night racing and with 22 races programmed for one meeting and the final race run at 3am.


While Andrew Harding unveils these plans, the visionary CEO of the Hong Kong Jockey Club once again mentions the city’s horse population of only 1200 and just how wonderful this new initiative is for racing fans and why Hong Kong racing is the best in the world.


He then walks on water and dances his way into his Time Machine.



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WHAT’S IN A NAME?



*We were somewhat surprised to learn that the former Singapore galloper Kung Fu Hero, now known as Young Superstar, and who won on his debut in Hong Kong is raced by the HKJC Racing Club Limited.



We must have missed something as we thought these “Young” horses raced for the Young Members Syndicate even though these members don’t receive any prize money and kinda pay for the joy and fun of owning a racehorse.


As a friend of ours and an HKJC member and former horse owner asked, does this mean other limited companies can own horses?


It’s an interesting question to ask and one that could lead to a few interesting left turns.


Perhaps how all this works can be explained by the visionaries at the Club cobbling together one of its rather obtuse corporate missives that more often than not seems to hide the truth between the lines in the ongoing interactive game of “Guess what we are REALLY saying?”



 


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