There was nothing flat about Sunday's Happy Valley card as sport or entertainment, but that was thanks to Caspar Fownes and Brett Prebble doing the impossible.
In the betting windows, it was flatter than a lizard drinking under a steamroller, as the paltry HK$2 million increase year on year underlined.
That was partly down to the World Cup, with the Jockey Club finding its estimates for final race holds - invariably the biggest of the day - are too high since the soccer tournament in South Africa began. Punters are switching off early to go and enjoy the soccer.
That the club is meeting opposition from the planet's second-biggest sporting festival is something that it will have to take on the chin - we're sure the soccer betting is compensating so we're not sparing any sympathy.
But perhaps Sunday's meeting is also a place to start some new promotional ideas for those years when the World Cup isn't on. That's most of them.
Remember, the season is five meetings longer, and the meetings which have been added are not feature days or nights. Feature races have remained the same and more 'trade' meetings have been stapled on to the elongated season.
