Inane inquiries are a wait on punters' minds
IT is a fact of life that in major racing countries such as England and Australia every effort is made to speed up inquiries so that punters can get on with the business of betting.
In Hong Kong we have the second largest betting turnover in the world, but the stewards seemingly deem it impossible to order the 'weighed in' signal until inquiries are completed that have no possible bearing on the result.
This was the case again yesterday and we had inquiries into Belarus (missed the start hopelessly), Strike A Fortune (travelling worse than midfield when Sheri Kong came off) and Be A Friend, who came down on the home bend after brushing with Flamme D'Or. The horse was in the last three when the incident happened.
The racing public are not stupid and realise that incidents such as those yesterday do not in any way affect the result of the race. Even the most diehard optimist clutching his each-way ticket is not going to believe that his money is going to come back as a result of the inquiries.
They must be held, of course. But they can be held, adjourned or concluded without holding up betting and payout time.
For the sake of completeness, it would also be advisable to interview Jarnet and Kong. Rightly, the stewards said in Kong's case that Strike A Fortune appeared to clip heels, a point that Kong may well be able to verify. In Jarnet's case it would be interesting to know how he viewed the brushing incident with Flamme D'Or. Tony Cruz had his first day in retirement yesterday and didn't enjoy it at all. 'I was watching horses I would have been riding and it wasn't a great experience.
'I reckon I saw a few mistakes being made - and I'm not even a trainer yet,' said Cruz.
But rumours of a return to the saddle are definitely untrue. It's a trainer's life for Tony. For a few strides it looked like a second fairytale ending in a week. Irish jockey Kevin Manning picked up the last-minute ride on Pine Fame in the absence of Thierry Jarnet and came within a short head of winning the last race. He lodged an objection and it was a very close run thing, but the stewards left the placings unaltered.
'What a way that would have been to go. I don't think I would have been doing quite the same as Tony, however. I'm afraid I haven't been here as long as Tony,' said Manning. And the Irish rider wasn't hanging around. He was at Kai Tak within three hours of the meeting finishing for his flight back home. 'But I can honestly say that I have enjoyed Hong Kong, it has been a very real experience,' said Manning.
There were a few sighs of relief yesterday as much-needed winners were posted. Two of the biggest names in the game, trainer Ivan Allan and Mick Kinane, had been bereft of winners for a month and almost six weeks respectively. And Derek Cruz has had one of those seasons where you wonder if anything is ever going to go right. Well, it did. Lucky Optimists, a stable stalwart, did the business.
Kinane landed a nice one in Emphasis while Allan, on a buying mission to Australia, would have been happy to hear of Acquisition's success. His last winner had been at Happy Valley on December 6.
