The line still gets wheeled out from time to time that a licence to ride in Hong Kong is a privilege, but it's clearly a privilege that plenty of jockeys are now happy to pass up.
Ironically, in a season when Brett Prebble and Douglas Whyte are putting on such a great contest for the championship, last week's licensing committee decisions showed the other side of the riding ranks here.
It's nearly tougher to get out than to get into Hong Kong.
The depth and diversity of the jockey roster was long one of the attractive aspects of racing, but diversity in particular has been dropping away for years.
It has never been much of a magnet for North American jockeys, British riders stopped coming some years ago for any proper commitment and now Dubai has become their preferred winter riding base anyway. Or even India, for some.
Only Olivier Doleuze, 38, and Gerald Mosse, 43, are licensed for next season in a jurisdiction where French jockeys have been such an important factor and certainly Mosse has hinted at retirement on a number of occasions. Where is the next wave of Europeans? Or, for that matter, Australians or South Africans? There is rarely much of a queue any more to get in here. It's that simple.
We hear that the list of actual applicants to ride next season was a whole lot shorter than the list of riders who did not apply but were asked if they would be interested. And were not.
