Recalling the sweet victory not long ago of his horse, Fuji Sunrise, in an 1,800m race, Henry Tang Ying-yen told a recent economic forum: 'It came back from behind in the last 200 metres to finish first. I don't know when its next race is ... It won't be July 10.'
Trailing behind in the chief executive race, Mr Tang will find time is running short for him to show he has the qualities of fighting spirit, innovative ideas and leadership potential to crack a comeback success in 2007.
Just as he has concluded in his budget speech that it would be better to wait for the continuing economic recovery to create opportunities for fiscal changes, so the financial chief seems to have resigned himself to the reality of a waiting game in his pursuit of the chief executive's post.
Mr Tang announced on March 21, six days after he delivered his budget, that he would not run for the next chief executive election. He did not elaborate on the decision.
Amid intense speculation that acting Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen has been hand-picked by Beijing for the remaining term of his former boss Tung Chee-hwa, the decision of Mr Tang to shy away from the July race did not come as a surprise. Nor is it surprising that he will run in the chief executive election in 2007, regardless of whether he will remain in the next administration after the July election.
The 2007 race may remain the end game of the prominent industrialist in his political career that began with an appointment to sit on the Legislative Council in 1991.
