It was hard to miss the undertones to Jockey Club chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges' comments on commingling in the aftermath of Monday's BMW Champions Mile meeting.
He made the point that the club's strategy regarding overseas simulcasts of top-grade racing had lifted the staging of international events locally from a quality show that most horseplayers were prepared to bypass to a turnover growth area.
'I think it shows our strategy is correct. Our simulcasts from overseas have made our customers more familiar with the horses. The turnover on those simulcasts is rising and now we see people are better able to assess our international races as a result,' he observed. 'We have been able to develop our international races to the point where they are no longer turnover losers.
'Unfortunately, the step in our strategy that is missing is to participate in commingling, but we are unable to do that as the government has been very slow to respond.'
A 17 per cent rise year on year on the Champions Mile betting was encouraging and those simulcasts have been showing a 27 per cent rise this term as they become a more familiar part of the landscape to punters, who bet almost HK$109 million on the Dubai World Cup simulcast in March.
Significant advances continue in globalisation of cross-border simulcasts and just a fortnight ago came the significant announcement of a joint venture between South Africa's betting operator, Phumelela, and Australia's Tabcorp.
The agreement aims to establish a hub for commingling on the Isle Of Man, which will not only ensure that Hong Kong will be a follower rather than a leader in commingling but will be at a serious disadvantage at the bargaining table if and when the government approves it to take part.