Iconic – a good word for Happy Valley
“Can you please back number four for me, just something small each-way? The purple and green silks look cool!”
Hours of analysis, countless scenarios considered, a knowledge of the horses, jockeys, trainers, factors – and winners are found by the colours of the silks. Oh, the joy of taking a novice to the races, especially in Hong Kong.
Taking anyone to Happy Valley racecourse for the first time is one of the great experiences.
Imagine the kids from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, noses pressed against the glass, drooling and salivating at the latest arrival in store. Happy Valley is a candy store for adults. The only thing missing is HKJC chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges singing The Candy Man.
Many things are described by that most overused of words, “iconic”, but a night at the Happy Valley races is as iconic as it gets and no tourist should ever leave without experiencing the city track.
On Wednesday night, it was a chance to take more family to the races – this time, my mother, who had already been once earlier this year but ventured back for the return of Happy Wednesdays.
Memories of the chocolate factory
Being the world’s best son, a planned booking in one of Happy Valley’s restaurants slipped away with time, so instead it was a night in a packed beer garden, overdressed and underprepared, moving at a snail’s pace in the claustrophobic setting – at least until the heavens burst open and the 20,000 strong crowd dispersed, the majority drenched from head to toe.
We were left exposed, but not by the elements. Instead, it was with the form.
We might have won last year’s SCMP tipping competition, but we were no match for the new star punter on the block.
It is a humbling experience, even after only a year of getting to know the form, to be shown up by one’s semi-interested mother on the punt.
Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges
She somehow found winners like Ocean Roar, All Great Friends and Medallist (the number four with the purple and green silks), while our best result – and hardly a winning one betting-wise – was Choice Treasure’s runner-up finish in the final event.
But leaving with only few coins while she is waving around HK$500 notes is a reminder that punting can make equals of men (or women, in this case).
It’s a far cry from the young woman who went to the races for the first time 30 years ago next week.
Go back to Flemington, Derby Day, 1984. Parading before the first, she knew no numbers or names, but was taken by the look of a strong grey and rushed to back him. Arriving at the tote window, she told the operator determinedly she wanted to back the flashy grey.
But try as she might to insist she’d seen a grey, the lady at the counter had to insist that all horses in the race were brown or black.
Eventually, a more learned mind pointed out that there was a grey involved in the race – it was a clerk of the course.
Thankfully, three decades on, she knows a little bit more – and knows the fickle nature – of racing.
And she knows that next time, everything she won will probably end up back in HKJC coffers!
Andrew Hawkins on www.scmp.com
