OpinionIf horses could talk: how we could change sports media forever

Follow @KemblaCoxy With the limited pool of participants in Hong Kong, many of them non-English speakers, sometimes the news cycle can become a touch mundane and repetitive. If only the real stars of the show – the horses – could share their thoughts with the media pre- and post-race and spice things up. It’s not like quotes from supreme athletes with somewhat limited intellects aren’t sought after in other sports. Despite the seemingly shallow quotes of athletes offering little insight at first glance – their comments can be pretty entertaining when personality clashes and the resulting feuds generate a real life soap opera. So imagine how explosive the comments from a pumped-up, single-minded and ultra-confident 1,200-pound super athlete would be? The horse we would have most liked to speak with on Sunday day at Sha Tin was Me Tsui Yu-sak’s Wah May Star, after he failed to run the trip out in the Hong Kong Classic Mile. Here’s how it would have gone down: Disgruntled Grey falls out with trainer after Classic Mile flop By Michael Cox Michael.cox@scmp.com An incredulous Wah May Star has demanded a stable transfer and slammed jockey Howard Cheng Yue-tin after his disappointing 11th in yesterday’s Hong Kong Classic Mile. After shooting into Class Two with some strong sprint performances last season, Trainer Me Tsui Yu-sak, under pressure from owners, unsuccessfully stretched the four-year-old to a mile this term in search of the Group One’s rich purse. “I’ve been telling Me for months that I can’t run 1,600m,” an exhausted Star said. (We’re assuming the gelding’s Christian name is Wah May, surname, Star.) “All I want to do is go fast – but not as fast as Howard wanted to go, that was just ridiculous! I want out, this isn’t working for me and it’s probably best for everyone that I move on.” Another highlight would be the inter-stable rivalry in the top heavy John Moore camp – the trainer trying to manage the egos of his high-priced superstars in the same way National Basketball Association coaches divvy up the playing time of their petulant players. After another Group One placing – the seriously under-rated Dan Excel would be staking his claims for the same sort of treatment as some of his under-performing and big money team-mates like Xtension and Zaidan. “I deserve a trip to Dubai for the Dubai Duty Free or the Group Two mile there,” a fired-up Excel (first name Dan) would have said after yesterday’s Stewards’ Cup. “Some of my teammates strut around the stables like this stuff should be handed to them – I don’t want to name names, but they’re pretty boys. I’m better than Military Attack and Packing Whiz on the big stage, and I feel like I’ve proven that, but they’re the ones John wants to take overseas. Sometimes I just feel used. Some of my team-mates need to step aside for the new generation. I’m just going to take it one race at a time.” (Unfortunately horses wouldn’t be immune to trotting out locker room clichés). Other news from Sunday could have been beaten favourite Ambitious Dragon’s reaction to the shoulder charge put on him by upstart Packing Whiz (“… dangerous and disrespectful to my standing in the game,” said Dragon.) - and master trainer John Size placing a media ban on outspoken Stewards’ Cup winner Glorious Days, after his “hoof pointing” and taunting of Zac Purton resulted in a fine from Chief Steward Kim Kelly. One point of contention is whether trainers and jockeys have a responsibility to speak to the press. As it stands, they’re not obliged to say anything to the media, although there has been one notable case in the past 12-months where officialdom stepped in to thaw a long-running cold war with one high profile stable and the English speaking media. For the most part, particpants in racing, especially jockeys, are extremely cooperative and don’t need to be forced to do anything. Colourful comments flow freely from colourful characters. But the argument that a trainer’s job is to simply “train horses” is, in our opinion, short-sighted and old-fashioned. If racing wants to pretend it’s still the good old days, that’s fine, it will get left behind and will be lucky if it remains on the fringes as a barely niche sport. For the most part, young people don’t understand racing; or horses for that matter. When racing began, the horse held a more important place in society. People rode horses to work, horses ploughed their fields and even fought in their wars. People had to care for them and rely on them. Having the fastest horse in town meant much more than having a status symbol. Racing is different to other sports in that it is designed for gambling. But youngsters would sooner bet on something they think they know something about, like football, and with which they have an emotional attachment. Without the help of insightful quotes from insiders, to make fans feels part of the sport, racing’s slim chance to remain relevant will drift away forever. But one thing we’ll never get is the ultimate inside information – straight from the horse’s mouth.