This is the continuation of my diary from my RTW trip from November 2003.
Now, the rest of my time in Hong Kong involved lots of green grass, happy people and lovely lovely horses. Yes, Tuesday night is race night and I spent my final night in Hong Kong at the Happy Valley race track!
Tuesday 4th November was Melbourne Cup Day in Australia and it was also the 100th anniversary of the Hong Kong Times sponsoring race meetings at the Happy Valley stadium, so a big race night was planned. 8 races, prize money of up to HK$1,000,000 per race for the owners and 80,000 bet-crazy Hong-Kongers all going mental.
Now, the rest of my time in Hong Kong involved lots of green grass, happy people and lovely lovely horses. Yes, Tuesday night is race night and I spent my final night in Hong Kong at the Happy Valley race track!
Tuesday 4th November was Melbourne Cup Day in Australia and it was also the 100th anniversary of the Hong Kong Times sponsoring race meetings at the Happy Valley stadium, so a big race night was planned. 8 races, prize money of up to HK$1,000,000 per race for the owners and 80,000 bet-crazy Hong-Kongers all going mental.
Any of you that have ever seen me in action supporting a team or a horse or a dog or anything will know what I’m like. Loud and expressive! Now imagine 80,000 other people all louder and more animated even than me and all shrieking in Cantonese eight times in three hours!! It was an immense experience, a fun atmosphere, hilarious and highly recommended.
I’m not a gambling man at all – once a year on the Grand National and I haven’t picked a winner since I had back to back Mr Frisk in 1991 and Party Politics in 1992. I’ve been dog-racing three times. I’ve also been once to Ascot, where I managed to breakeven on the betting. Mostly I love the atmosphere and the chance to behave like Eliza Dolittle shouting me bloomin head orf.
So I arrived at the race ground in good time to get a race card and look at the form while munching on a hot dog. Top tip for attending a race meeting – get your hot dog at the start – I never trust what they do with the losing horses after they come off the track! It’s also important to orient yourself – where are you going to stand for the race? Where can you see the horses in the paddock prior to the race? Where can you put your bets on etc.
As I walked through the grandstand from the ticket office and came out onto the course it suddenly hit home what we had been reading all day…namely that the grandstand holds 80,000 people. It is massive! Spreading for 400m down the home straight and heaving with humanity, all hoping for a little bit of bloomin luck (there I go with ‘My Fair Lady’ again).
So after 30 minutes of musing and calculating and fetlock gazing it was time to place the bets. My first horse was called ‘Jade Ruyi’ as I’d spent the afternoon at a jade market… So race number one is off and I was at the fence, opposite the finishing post – prime location! I was also standing opposite the worlds’ largest television. An enormous diamond plasma effort about 30m wide and 8 metres tall or something. From the start, of 12 horses, mine is last. At the second corner… and mine is last. Third corner and the same deal, but I spot movement on the plasma screen – my jockey is making his move! Sure enough at the top of the home straight is my horse on the outside going for glory – 11th – 10th – 9th – 8th – 7th!! Can he make up the ground in the closing metres? 6th – 5th – 4th!! If my bellowing can assist then surely he must make it…3RD - 2ND GO ON JADE RUYI!!!!! And then the post……. And he has made up no further ground. Second it is and a losing start for me. But what a shout – what a buzz!
I’m not a gambling man at all – once a year on the Grand National and I haven’t picked a winner since I had back to back Mr Frisk in 1991 and Party Politics in 1992. I’ve been dog-racing three times. I’ve also been once to Ascot, where I managed to breakeven on the betting. Mostly I love the atmosphere and the chance to behave like Eliza Dolittle shouting me bloomin head orf.
So I arrived at the race ground in good time to get a race card and look at the form while munching on a hot dog. Top tip for attending a race meeting – get your hot dog at the start – I never trust what they do with the losing horses after they come off the track! It’s also important to orient yourself – where are you going to stand for the race? Where can you see the horses in the paddock prior to the race? Where can you put your bets on etc.
As I walked through the grandstand from the ticket office and came out onto the course it suddenly hit home what we had been reading all day…namely that the grandstand holds 80,000 people. It is massive! Spreading for 400m down the home straight and heaving with humanity, all hoping for a little bit of bloomin luck (there I go with ‘My Fair Lady’ again).
So after 30 minutes of musing and calculating and fetlock gazing it was time to place the bets. My first horse was called ‘Jade Ruyi’ as I’d spent the afternoon at a jade market… So race number one is off and I was at the fence, opposite the finishing post – prime location! I was also standing opposite the worlds’ largest television. An enormous diamond plasma effort about 30m wide and 8 metres tall or something. From the start, of 12 horses, mine is last. At the second corner… and mine is last. Third corner and the same deal, but I spot movement on the plasma screen – my jockey is making his move! Sure enough at the top of the home straight is my horse on the outside going for glory – 11th – 10th – 9th – 8th – 7th!! Can he make up the ground in the closing metres? 6th – 5th – 4th!! If my bellowing can assist then surely he must make it…3RD - 2ND GO ON JADE RUYI!!!!! And then the post……. And he has made up no further ground. Second it is and a losing start for me. But what a shout – what a buzz!
For the second race I decided to go for two bets. Bet number one was a bet for one horse to win. Bet number two for two horses to come in any order in the top three. Numbers 4 and 11. My horse to win came 2nd again in this race. Bad luck, but the winner was 11 and third was horse 4! My second bet had come through and for a $10 punt, I’d won $220!! I'd seen a jacker earlier in the day in a chic boutique and written it off as too expensive... Maybe it could be mine after all!
So to cut a long story short I switched betting from one horse onto two out of the first three. This can work well as you get great odds when it pays off, but I then had two races where my favoured horse won, but my other horse came like 5th and 9th. No prize given.
The biggest race of the night. I decided to go for the big gamble... Choosing the three horses that would come in the top three. The crowd hushed as the horses were crowded into the starting gate and roared like a coliseum as the gates flew up and the horses bolted. Now keeping track of 3 horses out of 12 is a tricky business. All I knew was that as we came to the third bend my horses were running 4th, 11th and 12th. 80,000 people screaming, intoxicated by the thundering relentless movement of the beasts, roared on towards the finish line at an incredible speed. I was up in the stands for this one and could see my horses move out at the final corner – 600m to go! Up to 10th and 11th now… 9th and 10th – they are moving up steadily. But I don’t want steady I want a big change of speed. Everyone imploring their horse on in this tight tight race. All the horses so close together that I just knew my two were up in the middle of the pack – overtaking and heading for the leaders. I remember leaning over the bannister and shouting “GO ON HORSES!!”! I didn’t have a clue what the hell their names were! As the finishing post was met I knew though, I knew that those two horses from the back had made it to 3rd place, and they’d been pipped to the win by another horse I hadn't registered, which in the tumult had come up the inside to win. Baited breath – no-one knows who has won – no-one is celebrating. Cameras hone in on the owners. Feathers on hats quiver, betting slips are squeezed. The plasma screen holds everyones attention completely…
For 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place and 4th place… “PHOTO FINISH”. The words flash and the crowd sucks in so much breath that the Typhoon headed for Hong Kong is turned off its course and hits Taiwan instead. Slow motion pictures show us the horses coming up and crossing the line. We see that 10 has beaten 3, but it looks as if 3 has definitely taken third spot. But what of the winner? Is it 10 or the other horse on the inside – the horse who comes up so quickly that no-one watching the replay can see the number on the saddle… Again the focus on the plasma screen. 1st 2nd . And then confirmation. 2nd is 10. First is number ‘8’. My horses had come in! Not in the right order, but that didn’t matter for the bet! 8, 10, 3. For my stake of HK$60, a return of HK$1200! Celebration, jubilation and joy! So thrilled was I that in the final race I scaled right back and went for an each way bet and I got another $98 when my horse came in 2nd!
At HK$13 to the £, I hadn't won enough for the jacket, but nonetless, it was a very happy valley indeed :)
So to cut a long story short I switched betting from one horse onto two out of the first three. This can work well as you get great odds when it pays off, but I then had two races where my favoured horse won, but my other horse came like 5th and 9th. No prize given.
The biggest race of the night. I decided to go for the big gamble... Choosing the three horses that would come in the top three. The crowd hushed as the horses were crowded into the starting gate and roared like a coliseum as the gates flew up and the horses bolted. Now keeping track of 3 horses out of 12 is a tricky business. All I knew was that as we came to the third bend my horses were running 4th, 11th and 12th. 80,000 people screaming, intoxicated by the thundering relentless movement of the beasts, roared on towards the finish line at an incredible speed. I was up in the stands for this one and could see my horses move out at the final corner – 600m to go! Up to 10th and 11th now… 9th and 10th – they are moving up steadily. But I don’t want steady I want a big change of speed. Everyone imploring their horse on in this tight tight race. All the horses so close together that I just knew my two were up in the middle of the pack – overtaking and heading for the leaders. I remember leaning over the bannister and shouting “GO ON HORSES!!”! I didn’t have a clue what the hell their names were! As the finishing post was met I knew though, I knew that those two horses from the back had made it to 3rd place, and they’d been pipped to the win by another horse I hadn't registered, which in the tumult had come up the inside to win. Baited breath – no-one knows who has won – no-one is celebrating. Cameras hone in on the owners. Feathers on hats quiver, betting slips are squeezed. The plasma screen holds everyones attention completely…
For 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place and 4th place… “PHOTO FINISH”. The words flash and the crowd sucks in so much breath that the Typhoon headed for Hong Kong is turned off its course and hits Taiwan instead. Slow motion pictures show us the horses coming up and crossing the line. We see that 10 has beaten 3, but it looks as if 3 has definitely taken third spot. But what of the winner? Is it 10 or the other horse on the inside – the horse who comes up so quickly that no-one watching the replay can see the number on the saddle… Again the focus on the plasma screen. 1st 2nd . And then confirmation. 2nd is 10. First is number ‘8’. My horses had come in! Not in the right order, but that didn’t matter for the bet! 8, 10, 3. For my stake of HK$60, a return of HK$1200! Celebration, jubilation and joy! So thrilled was I that in the final race I scaled right back and went for an each way bet and I got another $98 when my horse came in 2nd!
At HK$13 to the £, I hadn't won enough for the jacket, but nonetless, it was a very happy valley indeed :)
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