The turf
Hong Kong thrills
Robin Oakley
Knd friends might call it a robe, a kimono or a sort of Eastern dressing-gown. But the garment a team filming a BBC hol- iday programme in Hong Kong had me wearing for a fashion shoot at the elegantly trendy Shanghai Tang just before Christ- mas felt distinctly like a dress. And Naomi Campbell I am not. Her bumps and curves come in different sizes and places, and I suspect I am not going to be allowed to live it down when the item is screened. But that was a small price to pay for being in Hong Kong for the International Race Day which was our film's real focus, for this year sure- ly marked the arrival of the Chinese Spe- cial Administrative Region as a first-class racing power.
I love the buzz and bustle of Hong Kong, a city state which does not need a national flag or flower. It has instead a national sound, the sound of the pneumatic drill as Hong Kong constantly strives to better itself, to build ever-taller, ever-glossier office blocks and hotels in keeping with its space-age airport and the tube system where your mobile phone works. And Hong Kong is the one place I know where horse racing, the only outlet for a betting mad public who punt with one in seven of the dollars they earn, really could be described as the national sport. The SA13. has long deserved the quality racing it is now getting.
You could not have wanted a better con- test than this year's Hong Kong Mile. The local hero Fairy King Prawn, trained by Ivan Allan, was being blown home by the crowd as he failed by a short head to catch Sunline, the tough race mare from New Zealand, after giving her five lengths lead into the straight. Daliapour, who had already been bought by Hong Kong prop- erty millionaire Robert Ng Chee Siong and who was running his last race for Sir Michael Stoute before continuing his career with Ivan Allan, simply oozed class in the Hong Kong Vase, winning by a com- fortable four lengths. Fantastic Light, down in the programme as a United Arab Emirates entry although trained in Britain by Saeed bin Suroor, was also a clear winner of the Hong Kong Cap, coming home by one and a quarter lengths under Frankie Dettori from Stoute's Greek Dance. He did me a favour in the process. Struck by Frankie's optimism when I inter- viewed him before the race, I had the
whole crew gambling on his victory. Since the next morning's filming involved me imbibing a noxious brew of Chinese herbal medicine heaven knows what form revenge might have taken if the bet had gone down. The ever-willing Dettori, incidentally, is a one-man public relations industry for rac- ing. One day when he goes the sport will realise just how much it owes to him. He gave the Hong Kong crowds full value with not just one but two of his famous flying dismounts.
For the HKJC the $40 million race day, watched by a billion people worldwide, was a real vindication. When I spoke to racing director Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges he outlined a simple philosophy: top-class rac- ing, top-class information to the betting public and top-class integrity. He put the meeting's success down to Hong Kong's readiness to stump up top prize money and to provide the best hospitality for owners and trainers. They certainly do that. But the racecard itself was a lesson to all in how to do it and the quality of the course facilities and its scrupulous cleanliness count too. The cameraman recording my frustration over a narrow loser as I tore up the betting ticket could not complete the shot as he had intended. A cleaning lady with broom and scoop moved forward even as the pieces hit the ground.
Chief executive Lawrence Wong told me proudly that they had 23 Group One win- ners from ten countries on the card. There were, he said, 80,000 spectators at Sha Tin and their sister course Happy Valley. Their punting and the efforts of 4,000 telephone staff ensured that more than 100 million betting tickets were issued on the day (the Hong Kong population is just short of 7 million). With $12 billion of an $84 billion a year turnover the HKJC provide 11 per cent of the Hong Kong government's entire tax take, acting as one of the government's main tax collectors. No wonder the HK authorities share the British government's alarm at the growth of offshore Internet betting.
We saw winners on the day from Aus- tralia, New Zealand, Britain and the UAE. Fantastic Light's win clinched victory in the Emirates World Series for him and the Anglo-Italian Frankie Dettori. Daliapour was ridden by Ireland's Johnny Murtagh, scoring his 12th Group One victory of the Year. New Zealand's Sunline was partnered by Australia's Greg Childs. And the South African Basil Marcus rode a double in two of the domestic races. Nowhere else is quite so international as Hong Kong, draw- ing in as it does contestants from North, South, East and West. The HKJC deserve credit for their drive for quality and their efforts should now be rewarded by regrad- ing the Hong Kong Sprint to make it the fourth Group One race on a remarkable card.
Robin Oakley's Valley of The Racehorse is published by Headline at £18.99.
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