ADMAN and racehorse owner Hans Ebert was in a thoughtful mood yesterday after a weekend in Macau. All his horses are named after hit songs - Only You, Light My Fire, Happy Together and so on. He wanted to call his latest filly, A Horse With No Name, but the authorities turned him down.
They thought it would have been too confusing to have the 10-words-a-second commentators saying: 'And ahead on the final stretch is A Horse With No Name.' Many local runners have characteristically money-grubbing names, such as Get Me Cash Quick, but some have inexplicable ones, such as Whale and Dolphin. Miss Piggy is a male horse, albeit a gelding.
One owner called his horse Derry Air, which seems OK in print, but caused sniggers when crowds thought they heard the commentator say: 'And moving up from a position at the rear, is jockey Joe Chan, bouncing up and down on his derriere.' They are certainly horse mad in Macau, in several ways. I was also there at the weekend, and found 'horse' listed on one of the menus at an upmarket restaurant.
'And there used to be a horse named Pepper Steak,' added Hans. 'I wonder what ever became of him?' ANNOUNCEMENT received by media organisations all over Hong Kong on Sunday from the Government Information Service: 'Attention duty announcers, radio and TV stations - yellow fire warning cancelled. The yellow fire warning issued at 6.40am on January 20 (Saturday) has been cancelled. This is not for public announcement.' MEMBERS of the Foreign Correspondents' Club were urged to attend a meeting yesterday with a speaker described on the invitation as 'feather editor of Apple Daily'. Recipient Simon Clennell reckons she must have got the title because (a) she handles lightweight stories; (b) she handles ticklish issues, or (c) she covers the down market news.
OK, here it is. The most boringly named group in the world had its first meeting here in Hong Kong on Friday last week.
Please give a warm welcome to . . . the Legislative Council sub-committee to study the Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) Ordinance (44 of 1995) Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) (Fees) Regulation, Merchant Shipping Ordinance (Cap 281) Merchant Shipping (Fees) (Amendment) Regulation 1996, Companies Ordinance (Cap 32) Companies Ordinance (Amendment of Eighth Schedule) Order 1996, Limited Partnerships Ordinance (Cap 37) Limited Partnerships Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule) Order 1996, Companies Ordinance (Cap 32) Companies Ordinance (Fee for Taking Affidavit, Affirmation or Declaration) (Amendment) Notice 1996, Trustee Ordinance (Cap 29) Trustee Ordinance (Amendment of First Schedule) Notice 1996, Clubs (Safety of Premises) Ordinance (Cap 376) Clubs (Safety of Premises) (Fees) (Amendment) Regulation 1996.