Turmoil in the streets spills onto the turf in Hong Kong

We are used to lightning interrupting and zapping race meetings; and many a stretch of slippery turf has seen fixtures cancelled. We’ve even had racing called off after horse floats broke down and runners couldn’t get to the course on time.

But civil unrest causing cancellation of a race meeting is a pretty rare thing. There was a groom’s protest march up the Turffontein straight a year or so ago, resulting in a bit of a delay to the programme, but one struggles to recall anything like what’s happened in Hong Kong this week.

Violent protests that have shaken the enclave over the past five months have just got a lot worse – to the extent that the Hong Kong Jockey Club was forced to cancel Wednesday’s meeting at Happy Valley.

Bus and train services across the city were suspended due to vandalism by angry crowds, while road traffic was severely disrupted, according to news reports.

It is estimated that the abandoned card will cost the Hong Kong government about HK$130 million in lost betting taxes. The Jockey Club will forfeit about $60 million in revenue on the forecast $1.3 billion in betting turnover at the meeting.

Those amounts of money are not passed up lightly – giving some indication of the magnitude of the unrest.

The protests are against a planned new law that would allow “offenders” to be sent for trial to countries with which Hong Kong does not have formal extradition agreements. One of these countries is mainland China – which, bizarrely, Hong Kong is part of under the “one country, two systems” set-up in place since the UK’s 1997 hand-over of its erstwhile protectorate to Beijing’s control.

Many people in Hong Kong see this as the thin edge of the wedge of China imposing its political will – and intolerance of dissent –on the teeming cosmopolitan metropolis on the shores of the South China Sea.

More than a million marchers have demonstrated opposition to the Fugitive Offenders Amendment Bill in a series of actions, many of which have become violent as police, militia, activists on both sides of the dispute and even Chinese triad gang factions confront each other in the streets.

A man was shot dead on Monday and public anger has been at boiling point in recent days, with hundreds of people arrested and scores injured.

It is the second time in the past two months that a card at the city racetrack has been aborted at the last minute due to public safety concerns, reported the South China Morning Post newspaper.

“In organising race meetings, the club always puts safety as a top priority,” the Jockey Club said in a statement.

“The club has been monitoring the situation closely. It has conducted a thorough risk assessment of the race meeting tonight and concluded that the latest social unrest and public transportation situation throughout the territory do not support our employees and racegoers arriving and particularly departing from the racecourse smoothly and safely.

“As such, the club has decided to cancel the race meeting at Happy Valley racecourse tonight.”

The SCMP commented that the cancellation is a big blow to the Jockey Club at a time when it wants everything to run smoothly, with its marquee meeting – the Hong Kong International Races – less than a month away. That meeting hosts the Hong Kong Cup, the city’s richest race.

The move also comes less than 24 hours after the Jockey Club was forced to deny a rumour suggesting the city’s other racecourse, Sha Tin, was being used as a base by the Hong Kong police as they confronted protesters at nearby Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Wednesday’s meeting was set to feature star Australian import, Extra Brut, winner of the 2018 Victoria Derby, who was to have made his Hong Kong debut for trainer Frankie Lor after three lead-up barrier trials.

Also, in-form South African jockey Grant van Niekerk was tipped to have a big night, with engagements on several well-fancied runners.

The cancelled meeting could not be moved to an alternative date as the licensed calendar is full.

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