Recently, there have been some outstanding results for South Africa both domestically with Triple Crown winner Louis the King, and Internationally in Dubai and Hong Kong with Variety Club. Having been trackside in both Dubai and Hong Kong to witness the greatness of Variety Club, I was privileged to see first hand the raw emotions not only of the owners, trainers and other connections but in particular, the fans, the life blood of the sport. Sure, Variety Club attracted new fans through their pockets in winning on two continents, but what I observed in Hong Kong was something totally different and refreshing, writes Simon Burgess.
‘Smashing them to pieces!
Here was a foreign horse, running against Hong Kong milers widely regarded as the best in the world. He came out and not only beat them, but in the words of the race favourite Able Friend’s jockey Joao Moreira, ”He smashed us into little pieces!”
Yet when Variety Club was lead back to the presentation area post race by the connections, he received the most astounding and rousing reception from the local Hong Kong punters the likes of which I’ve never before witnessed. These were the same punters who just moments ago, had backed Able Friend into an odds-on favourite, as well as pouring over HK$25 million into the win pool only to be comprehensively beaten!
I totally understand the importance of wagering and betting to the sport and appreciate its importance to the industry but racing is still a sport. Every sport, whether it is any code of football, car racing, golf or tennis has its heroes, so why not horse racing? In Japan, jockeys and trainers are treated like rock stars and demi gods unable to walk down the street without going unnoticed. It’s similar in Hong Kong and to a lesser extent in Singapore particularly with the western jockeys. Joao Moreira has just had a song recorded and released to iTunes called, “Samba De Joao Moreira” check it out: –
This “godly status” was also evident in Hong Kong after the Champions Mile and being out in town and watching locals approach Mike De Kock with, “Hey you De Kock horse trainer, we take picture!” to which Mike was very obliging. So the question beckons, why not a single for Mike De Kock? The least we could do for his services to the South African racing industry one would have thought?
De Kock ‘horse trainer’
I guess what I’m really trying to say here is that RACING NEEDS HEROES!!! Sure Australia had Black Caviar, England had Frankel and Hong Kong had Silent Witness. But until they chalk up ten wins in a row, they seemingly fly under the radar then before you know it, they’ve gone to stud denying us a hero.
Being at the Asian Racing Conference this week in Hong Kong solidified this thought even further. Every country basically presented a video to the 800 plus delegates that made you want to put their carnival on your racing “bucket list”. The glowing problem is though, that no one has sight of the fact we need to be doing more to create heroes in the sport be it horses, jockeys or trainers as they only seem interested in promoting their own feature days and getting the best horses there, totally losing sight that without fans, there’s no show. I would have thought that this could best be achieved on a united international front as a group of stakeholders with a common goal, although that seems highly unlikely to happen.
Kudos should go to the “Who is Louis” campaign drivers as that was what’s needed here, especially if we want to attract younger demographics of racing fans to replace the existing ones who are literally dropping dead! Social media is the way to achieve this. I see Variety Club also has his own twitter account now @VarietyClubSA – that is another great initiative, and worth a follow.
Let’s hope that racing’s administrators around the world get on board and together there is no reason we can’t have household names and heroes like any other sport. Maybe someone might even write a song about Mike? We’d love to hear your suggestions?
Let’s embrace our heroes like Louis the King and Variety Club now, before they to retire to stud or move on to greener pastures. Anyway for those of you old enough to remember the words of Bonnie Tyler, “I’m holding out for a hero!” too and so is the rest of the world’s racing industry. But, If you’re too young to remember her, take a look at this clip and you’ll get the picture.
Simon Burgess – Thoroughmedia
You can follow Simon on Twitter @ThoroughMedia
