So the hotly contested clash between Able Friend and Luger was a little bit of a let down, but there was plenty to get excited about post-race for every holder of a Hong Kong ID card.
Able Friend’s owner Cornel Li Fook-kwan quipped after his win in Sunday’s Group One Champions Mile: “He’s Hong Kong’s horse now, not mine anymore.”
This means just over seven million people just became part-owners in the world’s equal highest rated racehorse.
Thanks Cornel!
Now, financially, it might not be that big a deal. Even if you carved up the HK$52 million and change Able Friend has won so far, it only leaves around HK$7.22 per person.
Seven bucks isn’t even enough to take the MTR to Sha Tin from Hong Kong Island to watch your new horse run, let along get in the gate, and still falls short of the minimum HK$10 bet it would have taken to win an extra 20 cents by backing your horse in the big race.
This isn’t about money though – if it was, Cornel would have given the green light for trainer John Moore to take Able Friend to Dubai to contest the US$6 million Dubai Turf back in March.
For the seven million new syndicate members, the best part is in having a say when it comes to the seven million dollar question, or should that be £350,000, question – will Able Friend head to Royal Ascot next month for the Queen Anne Stakes?
So the main option being considered is a Group One standard race for Group Two level prize money at Royal Ascot, but it isn’t that simple, because Li has been promised the finest tea, canapes and cucumber sandwiches if he brings his 1,300-pound pet to town.
It is of course what everyone else wants Dr Li to do - meet the Queen - and even non-racing people want it to happen so that us zealots will shut up about it and stop clogging their Facebook timelines with Able Friend updates.
Moore gave the press the equivalent of a “we’ll be right back after this commercial break” response when he said a decision would be made after upon returning from a five-day business trip this week.
(John, you mustn’t have heard Dr Li, because it isn’t a decision that can be made over brunch anymore. The people have the power now.)
To be fair, Moore probably needs at least a week to get his head around the fact that every time he steps outside he is going to hear from an “owner” telling him how to train his horse. It’s going to drive Moore crazy when the doorman in his building gives him some tips on how much work Able Friend needs that morning, and try taking a cross harbour taxi at peak hour when the cornet bloke driving it is your boss.
It would seem that a fair and equitable way to make decisions on where our horse, Able Friend, runs next – or when he gallops, what he eats and who rides him for that matter – would be a vote for every Hong Kong citizen: universal suffrage for racing fans.
Now, unfortunately around these parts we know that the devil is in the detail with these sort of “democracy for all” announcements.
It sounds good to start with, but dig a little deeper, make some noise about it and it ends in (tear-gas induced) tears and traffic jams.
