INFOGRAPHIC: CLICK HERE TO RELIVE 'MAGIC MAN' JOAO MOREIRA'S RECORD 145 WINNERS IN 2014-15
Take away great horses, colossal betting and a Brazilian chap named Joao Moreira and there was precious little to the Hong Kong racing season, but fortunately they were enough to carry it to new heights.
Incoming chairman Simon Ip Sik-on forecast little change of direction for a Jockey Club in the ascendancy in recent years, and that promise was kept on opening day with the biggest attendance and betting handle for 20 years.
Chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges' prediction of "a 5 per cent" increase in turnover looked understated, in his usual pattern, but the German was nearer the mark than he expected by season's end - up 5.8 per cent to a record HK$107.9 billion.
Engelbrecht-Bresges expected 3 per cent locally with another 2 per cent increase from bettors overseas via commingling into Hong Kong's pools, but the latter exceeded expectations, coming in at HK$3 billion, or half of the turnover rise.
Available to US customers since the previous April, commingling took big strides when New Zealand and Australia's TABCorp joined in October, then Singapore and parts of Europe were added in December.
Longitude's single-pool wagering technology was put to proper use for the first time in January, merging the Quartet and First Four pools to increase their liquidity, and the "Master Plan" continued as new refurbished areas of Happy Valley and Sha Tin were completed.
The reward for the club's spending on technology and facilities was crowds at their highest level in 12 years, a participation positive Hong Kong's chief executive Leung Chun-ying could have done without when he was booed and pelted with eggs at the Jockey Club's 130th Anniversary Cup in January.
Then there were horses. Michael Chang Chun-wai launched his unlikely sortie into California with Rich Tapestry only to have the task made harder when the Jockey Club asked the horse's owners to support its anti-drugs policy and race without Lasix. No horse in living memory had won a Grade One race in the US without using the drug and the campaign was condemned as a quixotic waste - until Rich Tapestry won his Grade One prep race.
Finger wagging and a discussion followed on how necessary Lasix was, then Rich Tapestry failed in the Breeders' Cup, scoping with a throat full of blood that turned the finger wagging the other way.
Regardless, Chang's achievement was towering, a first for Hong Kong and probably a last. Despite the big win, his connections finished barely even after expenses and a big slice of prize money for US tax authorities.
Back in Hong Kong, October saw the return of Happy Valley after government works on water catchment capabilities had seen it closed for five months.
In December, the showpiece Longines international week came and went without incident; Khalid Abdullah won his first HKIR event but the remaining internationals went to locals, with mixed feelings at Sports Road. The club had raised international prize money but got little impact - Flintshire the only foreign winner all season and participation flat.
For international exposure, though, no foreign visitors could have done what Able Friend did as the chestnut drew fans across the world.
Able Friend was larger than life. Bigger, stronger and more handsome, he knew pi to 1,000 places and was a better talker than Mr Ed. Able Friend was the rock star and the rock on which the season's legends were built - Moreira, John Moore and even owner Dr Cornel Li Fook-kwan.
As the five-year-old rose to world's joint top-rated racehorse, Li enjoyed cat-and-mouse games about when he would take the phenomenon to the outside world. Finally, Royal Ascot was settled upon, and then it all went wrong when Able Friend simply failed to be himself before Queen Elizabeth.
He was flesh and blood but a colossal figure in this season and the same was true of his jockey and trainer.
Zac Purton's dethroning of Douglas Whyte was the headline 12 months ago but, this time there was nothing but Moreira. The Brazilian's 145 wins beat Whyte's old record by 31, he dominated like no one before and the Brazilian's partnership with Able Friend was the stuff they write songs about.
Moore missed out on the Derby when John Size produced the training performance of the year with Luger winning off virtually no preparation, but defied gravity to win his seventh title, breaking his own prize money record. Again.
Overseas, his results fell short of high hopes in Australia, Dubai and England but Dan Excel still won him a major in Singapore.
In April, champion trainer Caspar Fownes lost his father and Hong Kong one of its favourite racing figures when cancer got the better of Lawrie Fownes. A terrific trainer for two decades and an immensely popular man in a field where they can be thin on the ground, Fownes' passing wasn't sudden but sad nonetheless for the sheer fact of it.
There were other goodbyes. Fans saw Group One stalwarts Ambitious Dragon, Glorious Days and California Memory for the final time and they retired, hopefully to something better than former champion Viva Pataca, after appalling stories emerged in May of his being tied up in dungeon-like conditions in Macau.
Racecaller Darren Flindell returned to Sydney and the club announced executive director of racing Bill Nader would depart early in 2016 amid a shake-up of management positions.
Kim Kelly's stewards lost a member with Philip Dingwall's sudden departure in November and gained one in early 2015 with Gerard Bush. Careless riding breaches were identical to last season but four "running and handling" cases kept them busy.
The Olympic stables revolt in May emerged as the most promising hard news story, with the four Olympic trainers protesting what they saw as the disadvantages of the new yards vis a vis other trainers at the older facilities at the northeastern end of Sha Tin.
A minor verbal engagement between the club and the prime spokesman of the "movement", Sean Woods, had potential to get messy but by the time Woods was returned to his old facilities in early June, the din died down.
