November 05, 2003

Horses and Hong Kong

Horse racing is a regular event in Hong Kong. Every weekend there are races at Sha Tin; every Wednesday night there are races at Happy Valley. For those unfamiliar with Hong Kong, Sha Tin is in the New Territories, towards the border with China. Happy Valley race-course is in the middle of HK Island and surrounded by residential blocks, office towers and several major roads. Consequently traffic on Wednesday night's is generally chaotic with HK finest tending to arbitrarily diverting traffic to make things as bad as possible. My journey home will take an extra 25 minutes on race night and that's after the bus driver takes detours and back roads.

However last night was race night even though it was Tuesday. This was because it was Melbourne Cup, Australia's biggest horse race. So the HK Jockey Club moved the race day and made the Melbourne Cup the first race of the meeting, broadcasting it on the big screen.

It is difficult to convey quite how pervasive horse racing is in Hong Kong life. The Jockey Club is the only legalised gambling institution in this city and yet gambling is embedded deeply in pschce of Chinese culture. Macau is an hour boat ride away, but for the average punter it's out of reach. Lately the Government have legalised betting on soccer as well but GGs remain the main game. The HK Jockey Club is a curious institution in itself. It is not Government owned and in fact membership is open to anyone. It is an incredibly rich club with fabulous facilities and a large clubhouse in the middle of Happy Valley, just up the road from the race course. It sees itself as a kind of benevolent society, bequeathing various white elephants on HK like the HK Stadium in Wan Chai, as well as the usual charities and causes.

To give you an idea of the scale of horse racing here, an average Wednesday night race has approximately US$10 million in the totaliser prize pool. That's for one race. That doesn't include all the bookmakers (legal or otherwise). That is seperate for the prize money for the horses as well. The race course stands are full to the rafters and each Jockey Club outlet (of which there are plenty over Hong Kong) will have 100 men, and it's always men, sitting around filling in betting slips. Taxi drivers spend their spare time studying the form. The person serving lunch knows more about the breeding of these horses than the owners. The papers have the usual form guides running to 8 or 12 pages.

The result of this is HK attracts the best horses and trainers from Asia and probably the world. There are several Aussie jockeys and trainers plying their trade here: Shane Dye and Darren Hayes are the best known. The rewards are enormous for those who are successful but the pressure is immense. The HK Jockey Club can and does de-certify trainers if they don't have enough winners over a season. Likewise owners are looking for a good return on their investment and expect their horses to run well. There is only ever one winner though so there is a frequent turn-over of trainers and jockeys.

What is not talked about is the downside of all this gambling. I am not aware of much support for gamblers in Hong Kong although I'm sure it exists. A few weeks back I was in a taxi with PB and the driver was telling me about his little boy who is the same age. We were doing the usual parent thing, how much fun it is but how it can be expensive with kids. The driver then announced he spends upto HK$10,000 on the horses and hopes to make enough one day to retire. He added that he drives the cab basically to get betting money. He often argues with his wife over money for basics but all will be well in the end. While this was remarkable I thought to myself that this is by means an unusual tale in Hong Kong.

So in fact racing in Hong Kong is a microcosm of the city itself. It combines the rich elite (owners and Jockey Club members) with the masses who plough their hard-earned into the game, always looking for the big payout. That's the system, right or wrong. It works for everyone and no-one complains. But no-one sees the damage either. Like everything in this city, the main thing is chasing the almighty dollar. Nothing else much matters.


Posted by Simon at November 5, 2003 10:53 AM | TrackBack
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