HK$14 BILLION to create a more entertainment and technology driven “game changing” business strategy to attract “racing tourism”?

The new Hong Kong horse racing season appears to have sneaked up on many with rather muted fanfare, which is par for the course in an equally muted Hong Kong with a nightlife barely having a pulse.

Other than what appears to be a tsunami of sporting events that come and go with little or no sustainability and intercut with something or another that’s of little or no consequence and served up by some government official who’s hardly the sharpest tool in the shed as being a tremendous success, it’s about keeping up pretences and not showing that the sky is falling.

It’s just more corporate congee and waffles for those who don’t care either way.

People like me, and my friends, well, we’re fortunate enough to get away to Sri Lanka or Amsterdam or Aarhus in Denmark and return to Hong Kong for a pre planned dinner at Grissini’s or somewhere in Macau.

Getting away from Hong Kong these days is like escaping from Tom Cruise and Scientology and without the brainwashing having worked- even though I never married the actor.

As for average dyed in the wool Chinese racing fan in Hong Kong, they are still talking about those years when Tony Cruz was a jockey and the champion horse he was associated with named Co-Tack.

Others are mentioning the usual rumours and conspiracy theories and their dislike for the New Generation of racegoers, especially the tourist groups from Shenzhen taking over their bit of turf from where they bet their twenty or fifty bucks.

Do these people understand the very basics of the turnover driven business model of a horse racing club?

Do they not notice characteristics of Sylvester the Cat and Fagin and Keyser Soze flashing above the heads of many racing executives like a Warning sign that flickers in the dark?

Do they not understand why there cannot be more Hong Kong born apprentices?

It’s because they’re darn hard to find and even when they are found, they’re just not good enough and get in the way of oncoming traffic.

Unlike those brilliant young riders in Mongolia, Hong Kong born Chinese were not born to ride.

Horse racing continues here with plenty of smoke and mirrors and being divisive within its own ranks, let alone when trying to attract a new and younger generation and expand its shrinking and aging existing customer base.

Talk of a book on Hong Kong horse racing and apparently a unique “media package” including a series of short form videos a la Quibi should have tongues wagging.

The times they are a-changing and consumers today are either spoilt for choice, or are too pressed for time to go racing and be suffocated by the collective fumes of superficiality and pomposity.

If people haven’t been born into the world of horse racing, the odds of outsiders being interested in the pastime on a long term basis are extremely slim.

What’s the answer?

Well, this week, the Hong Kong Jockey Club announced a staggering HK$14 BILLION to create a more entertainment and technology driven “game changing” business strategy to attract “racing tourism” with just so much of everything plonked into the vat that one expected there to be E.B.Land as a lasting tribute to the 71 year old German CEO of the Club.

Can there actually be too much of everything, and more pertinent, will all this everything that almost approaches nouveau riche vulgarity like Mr Creosote or the rotting Big Orange in the White House actually work?

How will the people of Hong Kong who are doing it the hard way to make ends meet accept the flaunting of this, well, gaucheness?

How will the Hong Kong government look at this type of expenditure and wonder about its ROI?

Let’s just hope that things work out better for the HKJC this time than it did with those multi million dollar hi-tech IBU betting tables at the former Adrenaline venue at Happy Valley that quietly disappeared in less than a year.

Frankly, despite all this everything going on, it will be no surprise that in around two years, all that those who follow horse racing needs will will be a lifestyle app.

Those racing clubs left are wondering if they will follow in the footsteps forced to be taken by the Singapore Turf Club.

And why not?

Some extremely staunch and knowledgeable supporters of the pastime now refer to horse racing as a sunset industry.

They are probably being kind.

Perhaps the sun has set, and, as with any other business, some will leave with millions and billions and others will be left wondering what the hell happened.

What happened?

In the world of gambling, the house always wins, that’s what.