With a new byline covering the New Year’s Day race meeting at Shatin and writing about “a slow start to the day” before a “festive atmosphere ultimately drew almost 50,000 spectators including nearly 10,000 from the mainland”, it was hardly any surprise for Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, the Hong Kong Jockey Club CEO and official cheerleader to describe the day as “terrific”. Written by someone named Mike Chan, we particularly liked reading this little morsel: “Meanwhile, a re

When you’re jaundiced and cynical, believe that you’ve seen and heard it all, and when you’re lost with Mr Bob in Juarez and it’s winter time, too, and negativity won’t pull you through somehow, and seemingly out of nowhere, this amazing talent comes along and puts your house of chaos into some semblance of order and with you able to focus on what truly matters and allow the peripheral clutter to dissolve into hot cocoa, because your personal Jesus is still looking after you.

There were plenty of fireworks on the track during the Longines HKIR day at Shatin last Sunday. It’s tiring just thinking about it. There were the wins of Voyage Bubble, Romantic Warrior, the facile win that was almost an exhibition gallop by Ka Ying Rising- what did they beat?- a protester who nearly stopped the running of the Hong Kong Cup before being tackled to the ground, and the kinda odd Jesus Moment by the Club’s CEO who, as usual, described this year’s event, too, as