DJANGO UNCHAINED



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We couldn’t help overhearing a very senior Biggie Small executive with the HKJC, and someone who really should know better, dismiss jockey Mark Zahra’s accomplishments by telling his dinner guest, how “he couldn’t ride a winner when in Hong Kong”. 

This rather telling remark was a couple of weeks before the double Melbourne Cup winning rider rode four consecutive winners at Flemington on Saturday’s Victoria Derby Day including two winners for the new Godolphin business model in Australia.

His ride and well-timed and executed win aboard Observer was so dominant that the horse was eased down. This might have meant a $1500 fine, but why keep whacking away with the “persuader” when Observer was home and hosed?

The success of Victoria Derby Day was a much needed shot in the arm and the backside of the almost self-inflicted injuries that the VRC seems to masterfully do to itself before the start of nearly every Spring Carnival season.

Saturday saw extremely good, world class and enjoyable horse racing in its truest form and without the need for bells and whistles and going on about seeing more “younger people” on course.

The many different cheerleaders on course of over 86,000 said it all.

Maybe this can’t compete with Everest Day, and so what?

Find your own home run, VRC, and don’t come across looking like naive ninnies and, almost like clockwork, being held to ransom due to something else falling through the cracks. Like recently, the alleged bullying charges made against the VRC by the elusive Dr Grace, who, say some, could be heading to or is already in Hong Kong?

As for the HKJC’s Mr Biggie Small, perhaps he should have someone like, well, hmmm, Steward Terry Bailey, help jog his memory bank as to when Mark Zahra last rode in Hong Kong as a licensed rider- which were short stints in 2004 and 2012. 

Do the maths, Einstein.

When Mark Zahra returns to Hong Kong in December to ride some of the overseas raiders, who we don’t think have much chance of winning, no prizes for guessing who will be the first person smiling and bumping fists with him?

Hypocrisy wears many faces, dear friends and none of them are good.

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In Hong Kong, there’s been plenty of talk about having Entertainment at the races with even partnerships formed that, at least to date, have not yielded much fruit except for some unknowns girls and one odd boy flouncing and floundering around- Gangnam Style.

What do we think? We don’t have to think because what we have seen are two different worlds colliding leaving punters dazed and confused and much mirth to those looking on- even from places like Indonesia, Korea, Japan and India.

The REAL entertainment value will always be in the racing product, and the different people this attracts. 

Horse racing is its own genre as a sport because it’s the only sport that uses an animal for “entertainment”.

Unfortunately, when those dyed in the wool and Biggie Small horsey people in charge of racing clubs become hopeless and hapless groupies and lose sight of the irrelevance of trying to force a square peg into a round hole, one just watches and smile because they appear to have lost the plot.

Watching how the effusive personality of filly Pride Of Jenni runs her races by storming to the front and playing catch me if you can just as she did at Flemington on Saturday, now this is entertaining.

There’s then the team she has around her, especially her partnership with regular/irregular/regular rider and Irishman Declan Bates who won on the galloper, was then sacked by the ownership group and replaced before being reinstated and winning again at Flemington for the Ciaran Maher team.

In Hong Kong? Well, we enjoy the almost Pythonesque repartee between the HKJC’s Nic Child and local trainer Frankie Lor.

There’s also a terrific idea for a fly on the wall and almost Fawlty Towers type of reality series ready for prime time and that happens almost every day except Sundays.

Kinda like Cheers, this takes place at the muchos expensive Italian restaurant named Da Domenico starring its colourful owner and supposed racehorse owner plus clientele from the racing fraternity who enjoy showing off how much class they have in a city that appears to be catering to budget tour groups from Shenzhen.

This is the restaurant where in the good old days, a certain champion jockey was banned from the premises for misbehaving whereas these days a certain popular horse trainer won’t even allow the restaurant nor its owner to be mentioned in front of him.

Why? Does anyone care? Hmmmm, Manuel?

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A long way from Group 1 glory and winning Cup races, at least for the time being, is the very very promising apprentice Amy McLucas, who has on her side the determination to win and then win some more.

On Saturday at Randwick, Amy rode her first city winner when the Tash Burleigh trained Pokerjack in the 1200 metre TAB Highway Handicap saluted.

Keep following this girl. She has much going for her.