bodyType

customContents

entityId

printArticlePageQuery

filter

article

body

urlAlias

articleSectionsContent

articleSeoArticle

articleSourceHeaderArticle

contentSchemaRenderContent

contentSubHeadlineContent

contentHeadlineContent

mainImagePrintArticleArticle

authorBlockPrintArticleArticle

contentSponsorTagContent

articlePianoPaywallContent

scmpYoutubeContent

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

query printArticlePageQuery(
  $entityId: String!
  $customContents: [CustomContentInput]
  $bodyType: BodyFormatTypeEnum
) {
  article(filter: {entityId: $entityId}) {
    entityId
    body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
      json
    }
    urlAlias
    ...articleSectionsContent
    ...articleSeoArticle_3o8td4
    ...articleSourceHeaderArticle
    ...contentSchemaRenderContent
    ...contentSubHeadlineContent
    ...contentHeadlineContent
    ...mainImagePrintArticleArticle
    ...authorBlockPrintArticleArticle
    ...contentSponsorTagContent
    ...articlePianoPaywallContent
    ...scmpYoutubeContent
    ...hooksTrackPageViewArticle
    id
  }
}

fragment articlePianoPaywallContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksPaywallPromiseContent
}

fragment articleSectionsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      ...helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection
      ...entityLink
      name
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment articleSeoArticle_3o8td4 on Article {
  ...hooksArticleSeoArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersGetArticleTypeArticle
  entityId
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
  summary {
    text
  }
  subHeadline {
    text
  }
  body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
    text
  }
  keywords
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  topics {
    name
    entityId
    id
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  images {
    style(filter: {style: "768x768"}) {
      url
    }
  }
  readingTime
}

fragment articleSourceHeaderArticle on Article {
  urlAlias
  ...entityLink
}

fragment authorBlockPrintArticleArticle on Article {
  ...defaultArticleDateContent
  ...authorNamesArticle
}

fragment authorNameAuthor on Author {
  ...entityLink
  name
  entityUuid
}

fragment authorNamesArticle on Article {
  authorLocations
  authors {
    entityId
    location
    ...authorNameAuthor
    id
  }
}

fragment blockquoteQuoteContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment contentHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  socialHeadline
  ...contentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
}

fragment contentNewsletterWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
    id
  }
  sections {
    value {
      relatedNewsletters {
        ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
        id
      }
      id
    }
  }
  ... on Article {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment contentSchemaRenderContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...blockquoteQuoteContent
  ...imageContent
  ...inlineWidgetContent
  ...photoGalleryWidgetContent
  ...scmpYoutubeContent
}

fragment contentShareWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  shortUrl
  socialHeadline
  headline
}

fragment contentSponsorTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentSubHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  subHeadline {
    json
  }
  summary {
    json
  }
  ...contentSchemaRenderContent
}

fragment defaultArticleDateContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksArticleDateUtilsContent
}

fragment entityLink on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  __typename
  entityId
  entityUuid
  urlAlias
  urlRedirect {
    toUrl
    id
  }
  application {
    entityId
    id
  }
  ... on Section {
    fullSectionPath {
      entityId
      id
    }
    parentSection
  }
  ...helpersAppBarVariantBase
  ...helpersApplicationBase
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersAppBarVariantBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsLiveArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...helpersSectionContent
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersApplicationBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
}

fragment helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection on Section {
  name
}

fragment helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle on Article {
  entityId
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  disableOffPlatformContent
  sponsorType
  published
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment helpersCheckIsLiveArticle on Article {
  flattenTypeIds
  liveArticle {
    status
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    paywallTypes {
      entityUuid
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsStyleArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersGetArticleTypeArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        entityId
        id
      }
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter on Newsletter {
  entityId
  name
  alternativeName
  description {
    text
  }
  summary {
    text
  }
  homepageDescription {
    text
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle on Article {
  authors {
    types
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersStyleSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersUseContentSponsorContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    sponsor {
      ...sponsorTagSponsor
      name
      type
      id
    }
    id
  }
  ... on Article {
    sponsorType
  }
  ...helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent
}

fragment hooksArticleDateUtilsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  createdDate
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
}

fragment hooksArticleSeoArticle on Article {
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle
  entityId
  headline
  socialHeadline
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
  images {
    generic_og: style(filter: {style: "og_image_scmp_generic"}) {
      url
    }
    styles(filter: {styles: ["og_image_posties_article", "og_postmag", "og_image_style", "og_image_scmp_analysis", "og_image_scmp_explainer", "og_image_scmp_editorial", "og_image_scmp_fact_check", "og_image_scmp_debate", "og_image_scmp_live", "og_image_scmp_obituary", "og_image_scmp_opinion", "og_image_scmp_review", "og_image_scmp_series", "og_image_scmp_generic"]}) {
      url
      style
    }
    type
  }
  urlAlias
}

fragment hooksContentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        name
        entityId
        description {
          text
        }
        id
      }
    }
    ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  }
  flag
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  ...hooksContentHelperContent
}

fragment hooksContentHelperContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle
  ...helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle
  ...helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle
  flag
}

fragment hooksPaywallPromiseContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment hooksTrackPageViewArticle on Article {
  entityId
  publishedDate
  headline
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  entityUuid
}

fragment imageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  ...checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent
}

fragment inlineWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentNewsletterWidgetContent
}

fragment mainImagePrintArticleArticle on Article {
  images {
    title
    url
    isSlideshow
    size_652x446: style(filter: {style: "652x446"}) {
      url
    }
  }
}

fragment photoGalleryDialogContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment photoGalleryWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...photoGalleryDialogContent
}

fragment scmpYoutubeContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  publishedDate
}

fragment sponsorTagSponsor on Sponsor {
  name
  type
  images {
    url
  }
}


sections

types

disableOffPlatformContent

sponsorType

published

headline

socialHeadline

authors

images

publishedDate

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

keywords

topics

readingTime

authorLocations

entityUuid

Michael Cox

Follow @KemblaCoxy 

<![CDATA[// ><!]]>

“Last time I gave him a bit of a dig and a squeeze coming out of the machine and he got on the “chewy” and then he had nothing left when I asked him to let down – he was empty, the difference was that this time he came back underneath me and relaxed.”
That was Zac Purton talking about Dominant after his upset win in last month’s Longines Hong Kong Vase, who he rode for the first time since his third to California Memory in the Champions and Chater Cup in May.
I sent this quote to a “non racing” friend, with some context. I told him it was a jockey talking about a horse after he won a big race.  Despite  my friend being an intelligent fellow with reasonable powers of perception, his response was “I have no idea”, before continuing with a hint of sarcasm, “Did the horse stand on chewing gum? What the heck is he trying to do to the horse by squeezing him anyway? Machine? Let down? Came back underneath the jockey? Where did the horse go, was the jockey just left levitating?”
It’s an example of how racing jargon can leave a beginner baffled and prospective fans out in the cold. There is such a divide between the language used in racing, developed over hundreds of years, and the understanding of the vernacular from a mainstream sports fan, that bridging the gap has become seemingly impossible.
Racing is such an insular industry and such a single-minded, obsessional pursuit for its participants that those “in the know” rarely consider, or care, that they are essentially speaking a different dialect to the rest of the world much of the time.
When someone asks me what I do, the answer “racing reporter” prompts questions that show just how far racing is out of the mainstream consciousness.
There are plenty of inane, but entertaining questions from “normies” – that is, normal people – about racing that show just how wide this gaping ravine between race fan and casual sports fan has stretched. Do they race in other countries? How do the horses get there?
But here’s the top three questions asked to Happy Lucky Dragon Win by normal people about racing.
1. Do jockeys have their own horse? To this doozy I have begun answering “yes” just for fun. “Yes, the jockeys have their own horse, just one, they keep it in their apartment. It’s particularly hard for Hong Kong jockeys, given the size of apartments here. It’s also a real bummer for the jockey if the horse gets injured, or isn’t very good.” The one horse per jockey rule also makes Douglas Whyte’s feat of 13 straight  titles all the more amazing. Would he have to do it all with the same horse? Or would he pinch another jockey’s horse when it was going better than his? That last fib might not be too far  from the truth.
2. Once an English gentlemen said to me, “If Black Caviar is so good, why hasn’t she won the Epsom Derby then, hey?” Oh dear. Okay, first of all, a derby is for three-year-olds (except for here in Hong Kong and Singapore, just to confuse you more). The Epsom Derby, England’s most prestigious race, is for colts and fillies (no geldings), and Black Caviar is a mare (not a “mayor” as a general news reporter colleague reported once when filling in on the racing beat at an Australian paper). A mare is a female, older than four. Before that she is called a filly – get the idea? It’s hard to break things down into little pieces for everybody. (This then sparks myriad other questions – so girl horses can race boy horses?)
3. This one isn’t so much a question, but an observation of how excited a newcomer to the races gets when they’ve had their $10 each way on a front-runner, usually ridden by a clueless apprentice, that has  torn away from the field and is clearly about to fall in an exhausted heap with a furlong to go. “I’m in front, go, go, go!” they scream with 1,200m to go in a mile race. At least they get their hopes up before the devastation, and lactic acid, sets in. Perhaps the biggest misconception of all is that horses are forced to run fast, when in fact much of training a horse is teaching it to relax and be under the command of the rider – you can’t teach a horse to run faster than it is physically capable. In essence, you can make them fitter, not faster. Most racing takes place over distances that equate to human running races of 400m and further – tactical ability is required. It’s about stamina as much as speed.
So a quick translation on Purton’s opening quote for those just joining us from the real world.  Purton gave Dominant a “squeeze” and “dig”, meaning he applied some pressure to the horse with his legs and gave the horse a dig in the ribs with his heels in order to make it go faster. With Purton then wanting to slow down and pulling back on the reins, because no horse can go flat out for a whole race, Dominant wanted to keep going hard, and became agitated. He began to “chew” on the bit, or “pull” and “overrace” – two other commonly used pieces of racing terminology.
So Dominant “had nothing left” because he had tired himself out fighting with the jockey and getting on the “chewy”. So when it came time to “let down” – meaning to quicken from a normal race speed gallop into a full sprint, by lowering his hindquarters and giving maximum effort for a short burst, the horse had no energy left – he was “empty”.
Oh yeah, “the machine” – that’s the starting gates. “Coming back underneath me” means  the horse isn’t trying to run too fast and is staying under the command of the rider and relaxed, saving his energy for what was a race-winning burst of speed at the finish in the Vase.
Of course, a lot of this stuff makes more sense to someone who has had something to do with horses, even in a recreational sense, or someone like myself who was abandoned at a racetrack as a child in lieu of proper daycare facilities.
Or someone who can understand a horse’s nature as a flight animal, whose natural response to danger, and only effective  defence mechanism other than kicking, is to run  hell for leather for a kilometre or more and then turn around and assess what happened. No wonder they can be hard to handle.
A little over a century ago it was far more likely most people would know something of the nature of horses, at least if they wanted to go anywhere. Today, no one relies on horses so we are already have fertile soil for misconceptions – and then there is the fact racing worldwide has dwindled in popularity with the growth of sports betting and other forms of legal gambling. It only adds to the mystery.
To be able to  converse about racing has truly become some sort of dark art, but maybe there’s some sort of middle ground and we can start including the normies from time to time, if they are even interested.

How racing's lexicon leaves many lost

Zac Purton may have sounded confusing to non-racing people after his win on Dominant in the Hong Kong Vase, but what was he really trying to say? Photo: AFP

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“Last time I gave him a bit of a dig and a squeeze coming out of the machine and he got on the “chewy” and then he had nothing left when I asked him to let down – he was empty, the difference was that this time he came back underneath me and relaxed.” That was Zac Purton talking about Dominant after his upset win in last month’s Longines Hong Kong Vase.


Talking  Points

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

Happy Lucky Dragon Win

Happy Lucky Dragon Win | How racing's lexicon leaves many lost