AS he looked out over Hongkong's fabled harbour late last week, Irish champion jockey Mick Kinane talked of the telephone call that could have changed his life forever. It came on January 13 and ushered in a frantic fortnight that included a marathon trip to London, telephone calls around the world and a final decision that will be fiercely debated. The call was simple, the decision difficult. The call came from Sheik Mohammed's racing manager, Anthony Stroud, and the 33-year-old Irish champion jockey was asked if he would be interested in riding as first jockey next season, taking over from Steve Cauthen. Kinane was interested - naturally. ''I was very surprised, it came right out of the blue. Nothing much was said because Steve hadn't finally turned them down I think at that stage. ''The news about Steve came as a shock because I simply supposed he would go on for another year or two. They were having problems, t