What can one say about the dulcet tones and The Online Voice of Australian racing that is Gareth Hall? Entertaining, definitely, and like a dog with a bone, when after a story where he might sniff a bet, he becomes as hard working and committed as James Brown about gettin’ it on up and getting on it. Particularly arresting is when he basically salivates whenever interviewing a jockey or trainer for even a morsel of what might be considered a tip, something he turned into a fi

“Billionaires' and Royalist clubs trying to attract the mass market... interesting”. The problem is that it’s 2026 and there’s still the same old problem, and instead of this problem going away, there are actually more problems, because those given the reins to solve problems, perhaps don’t wish to as opposed to not knowing what to do next. Why? Because maybe actually solving problems might make those who have been leading the band like Guy Lombardo did might feel that they c

I’m writing this early in the morning with the Beatles playing in the background, listening to some of their earliest originals and wondering how they wrote and produced all the music that they did and swept many of us up in a groundswell of awe and joy while also asking us why we couldn’t write a song like “Girl” or “I’ll Follow The Sun” or the very much overlooked “I’ll Be Back” or, well, just something that came even close to what they were doing before Strawberry Fields F

As it’s seemingly become The Word Of The Day, why not use “pivot” and ask whether the Hong Kong Jockey Club is pivoting towards far more emphasis and effort in the promotion and marketing of equestrian events? With the Lunar New Year of the Horse around the corner and Longines very much involved in horses and time keeping in the sport that goes back to 1869 and the first pocket watch while investing in a more affluent and sophisticated audience that started with the advertisi

*As mentioned some weeks and months ago, some in Hong Kong met and partied with convicted sex trafficker and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and someone extremely close friend to the rich, famous and infamous and known for his very private and parties. Some have even mentioned meeting Epstein at the former exclusive escort club in Tsimshatsui known as Club BBoss with some of the city’s movers and shakers and fakers. We really doubt this, but even if this took

* After the rather lukewarm reception to the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Gentlemen’s Bow Tie Day, plans are underfoot for a SPONSORED Gentlemen’s Botox Day. *Zac Purton rides eight horses in a race with Bro Bowman riding the remaining four and the race is won by Dylan Mo. *The highly rated and extremely expensive galloper named Shanwah and currently with the Douglas Whyte stables is renamed Shan The Sham after a couple of horrifyingly ordinary performances. * Watch the music vide

I’ve been talking about teamwork for a few years now and how the type of teamwork where all the parts fit might not lead to instant fame and riches, but it lays down the groundwork from where the unexpected can grow. What I have been seeing now for years is the lack of real teamwork, because maybe the different parts don’t really fit for one reason or another, but mainly because of an “imbalance” in talent and different levels of experience and maybe even tolerance. Often, I

We called ourselves “Walter and Jack” after the two characters in “The Odd Couple”, and the name stuck because it was true: We were Asia’s odd couple of the music industry, and also, very possibly, the most successful. It worked to have one of us who talked softly and carried a big stick and the other who enjoyed being a big stick and having some thinking he was a whack job who had a short fuse. Norman (Cheng) and I read the tea leaves extremely well. We almost magically and

Do the Epstein Files also feature those who are hardly A-List celebrities or well-known politicians? After all, isn’t it all about showbiz and reality shows like “The Apprentice”? We have it on rather good authority—because we have seen the names—that a few individuals are trying their best to mix it up with the usual suspects. These are people who crave the fame game from not-so-faraway places like the Land of Oz, the Kong of Hong, Macau, islands off Portugal, Taiwan, and Ch

Jessie Buckle Swollen ankles, bruised hands, pampers, vitriolic, crook, wannabe gangster, Greenland versus Iceland and fighting like crazy for the Nobel Peace Prize of Serial Discontent Walk For Peace https://www.upworthy.com/buddhist-monks-walk-for-peace Chloe Zhao: A Guiding Light Chloe Zhao, the film director, is the guiding light and hand behind the award-winning movie “Hamnet”. The Humor of Gary Larson Gary Larson’s Far Side Cartoons never fail to bring a smile. Musical

That wrinkly 30-40 year old chestnut about horse racing in China raised its head once again last week with yet another of those rather convoluted press releases where the venerable 71 year old Hong Kong Jockey Club CEO is only quoted where he seemingly wants to be quoted and with the rest of the stuff going through to the keeper with those who bother reading this congee of wontons just skimming through it and not really giving a flying duck because the entire future of the wo

It’s very hard to explain when there are mental roadblocks stopping new flows of positive energy from breaking through, but as I was telling someone last night, if the world could somehow drink from the same cup as Jessie Buckley, we might actually find the magic fuel to Happiness- and with Happiness leading to a conga line of Hope and Energy and Inspiration. This was after watching the clip above where the entire crew dance to Rihanna’s “I Found Love”, an idea by Chloe Zhao,

Though the marketing of Hong Kong is not without its shortcomings- there’s a smirk hiding in there- it says something when you’re told by those who know to hold off from coming to America and stay put, because, with my colour and looks, I will very probably have quite an ordeal trying to enter a country, that if the nonstop news is to be believed, is caught up in a crossfire hurricane of divisiveness, racism, goofiness and a dangerous brand of legalised lawlessness. For Hong

Once upon a dim sum We heard the bells go Ding Dong We knew we were back And chilling in the Kong The city called Hong Kong There was music playing And people singing There were beats out in the streets Music was heard everywhere This was the soundtrack to our being and lives And living the coolest Cheongsam life style Copyright ©️ Hans Ebert, 2026 It’s tough growing up, and, sometimes, when having to grow down to fit in with others and “network”, which is a stra

Like needing a shot of rhythm and blues, especially during these very uncertain times, we all need heavy doses of inspiration to get us motivated, because when this inspiration washes over you, it’s like a revitalisation and replenishment needed to go from surviving to living- really living. I’ve been thinking about this more and more, and how the more I am too often around those who don’t give me this nourishment, I retreat into a deep, dark void to listen to the silence, in

I know some extremely good and multi talented creatives in leading multinational advertising agencies- award winning Creative Directors- who have tried and failed to go the distance when trying to make horse racing something more than what it has been for decades and decades with a cherry on top and before the wheels coming off. Showing horse racing in its best possible light and in an ONGOING way seems to be mission: impossible and one probably knows why, but let’s not dwell

https://usasnews.com/posts/breaking-news-legendary-jockey-mike-smith-has-sent-the-entire-horse-racing-world-into-a-frenzy-afte-thanhtam/?utm_source=facebook Gawd knows there have been so many times when I have had to bite my tongue so hard to not burst out laughing listening to those who have no idea about the business model of the streaming service that’s Netflix thinking that that anything and everything produced, including horse racing, will be accepted. So very wrong, Ton

Those were the times and whether for better or worse, it’s what it was and depending on one’s career path, it’s what led us to wherever the hell we were going with no Google Maps to show us the way. Were we fraught with problems and danger and careful about where life took us? Not really, because as the Stones’ once sang, we were caught in a crossfire hurricane and it was alright, because there was nothing to compare it to- something was there and we had to try it no matter h

It seems like years since I have been to the Champagne Bar at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, and maybe it has even though I have actually not been there for a few months. I should because they have one of the best bona fide Jazz singer I have heard performing in Hong Kong. The real deal, so to speak. But, as always, it’s people who make a city and everything else… The Champagne Bar was our favourite meeting place for so many reasons. There was the convenience of the venue which was j

It really doesn’t take an Einstein to understand this, but during these days of “influencers” and influenzas and clodhoppers and KOLs and where so much of everything has been really really really dumbed down and me really really really being a music guy who has helped run the regional offices of Universal Music and EMI Music and worked with artists as diverse as Norah Jones and Gorillaz to Faye Wong and Jackie Cheung, and since the majority of the tourists to Hong Kong are to