PROTECTING the interests of punters is mandatory for any racing authority but the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club failed in this paramount duty at Happy Valley last Wednesday night.
The six-event programme was on equitrack and the official going was 'good to firm' which, to any regular follower of Hong Kong racing, translates into fast times on the predicted firm ground.
Not so. The equitrack surface had been deepened from two inches to three and a half inches and trainers had been so informed. Within the closer confines of the local racing circle, slower times were being predicted because of the different treatment to the Valley synthetic surface. This is exactly what happened. Throughout the evening the race times recorded made a mockery of the official going and served to totally confuse punters.
In a racing community obsessed with times, the official description of the surface and the fact that the public were unaware that it had been substantially altered from previous weeks, struck a savage double blow.
Ironically, the surface was, in the opinion of virtually everyone involved on the official and licensed side of the sport, quite the best it has been this season. We had finally a surface which seemed to give most horses a chance - rather than the lightning fast variety of previous meetings which suited only front-runners.
Equitrack and the Sha Tin course have been a learning process for new Clerk of the Course, John Ridley, but he got the dirt just right last week. Sadly, for the vast majority of dedicated punters, they were not to know that the good work put in had so materially altered the ground.