It’s really about making some sense of it all at a time when not too much is making sense and also giving people food for thought and how to have this thing called fun. Personally speaking, I really believe that we’ve forgotten how to have fun and fun has become a funk, but without the chirpiness of “Funky Town”. It’s certainly not going to be easy, but if things are too easy, there’s no challenge, which is why I want to at least try and make horse racing- and the world of ho

MORE ENTERTAINING THAN “LET IT RIDE!” MORE BISCUITS THAN “SEABISCUIT”! MORE FRANKIE THAN “FRANKEL”! MORE “YEEHAA” THAN MATT CHAPMAN! MORE DOUGH THAN KA YING RISING! Three rookie horse racing fans set out with a lucky HK$8888 each at the start of the new Hong Kong horse racing season! Our film crew will follow their progress at every race meeting! We ask them about their wagering strategies, who’s winning what and fun and outta left field horsey stuff! We capture their winning

It’s not just the Hong Kong racing fans, but without horse racing, one can almost hear crickets in the city. On September 6, the new racing season saddles up again, cowboys, and one can almost feel a pulse running through a city looking for something that can give it some semblance of a tinge of excitement and nightlife, let alone a life worth living. Having said this, little old Hong Kong with its always intriguing history, might not be perfect, but it’s a helluva lot better

It really is about turning interest into visits and these visits into sales and investments and turning negative perceptions into things that are positive. Sounds easy enough, but this is what Hong Kong is facing when it comes to attracting tourists into a city that, let’s face it, has seen better days. It’s where, seemingly, every day, especially in this social media driven world, bad news travels at the speed of light and faster than Buzz Lightyear. Knowing Hong Kong for as

Though I have known his first boss- trainer Caspar Fownes- for over two decades, what I am sensing and seeing in the recent few weeks in various interviews is a refreshed and very confidently looking, and chilled Vincent CY Ho. Known for being such an integral part of Team Golden Sixty, the champion Hong Kong miler who, though now retired at Northern Farms in Japan, has played an inspirational role in helping Vincent return to competitive race riding after a horrific accident

No one’s going to agree with everyone else about what attracts them to visit a particular place because it comes down to so many personal reasons and preferences, especially at a time when there’s a reticence to travel. Why? The unexpected, which, ironically, used to be the main reason TO travel. Today, depending on one’s age and travelling companions, the question that seems to come up more and more often is whether it’s worth it. I put this down to many of us still in lockd

Hong Kong has never been known for original music nor a particular sound. This is something to think about these days when there’s almost a roaring silence running throughout a city that once never slept. Music has the power to change so many things which, I believe, we have not looked after in the way that it deserves and are now paying the price for this. A city without good ‘live’ is something like that old Gene Pitney song about a town without pity. Though having created

It’s something that the person I am closest to said in passing yesterday morning, and what we have been discussing for almost five years: “There’s so much technology and living 24/7 with a mobile phone that people have forgotten how to think for themselves which means that real communications are being eroded every day”. She’s right, of course, and even thinking if this is just the tip of the iceberg, or the actual hummock, it brings to mind something that DDB Chairman Keith

Of course, the Prog-Rock music of artists like Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Yes, and Emerson, Lake and Palmer was pretty experimentally dark and mind altering. But those were the Sixties when some were trying to be like Syd Barrett and “Shine On, You Crazy Diamond”. Here, we are, however in 2026 and Aaron Kwok, the one-time HKTVB dancer, who became one of Hong Kong’s four clean cut Canto Pop “Heavenly Kings” in the Eighties, has released “Chong Chong Chong”, his much anticipated

I guess some would describe him as “enigmatic”, others might not be so kind, but Blake Shinn might be a divisive personality to some, but there’s no getting around the fact that he’s a very very good jockey. These days, as an observer of the game, the 38 year old Australian certainly brings enormous talent and character and interest to the horse racing table. He might be an acquired taste, but having him met him twice in my life, with the last time being at the Hong Kong Jock

I’m not saying that everyone should learn English, but if Hong Kong is serious- really serious- about being “reborn” and seen as something like “Asia’s world city”, its international image must be strengthened and cannot be reduced into being what some say resembles an isolated fishing village for the aged. Maybe this is also why friends who once lived in Hong Kong and worked in the Hong Kong news media are surprised that I read a certain English language newspaper everyday.

He is not “America’s problem”, because he’s the President of the United States of America. He is a global threat to how we live our lives. Before he goes, he’s going to make darn sure that he takes everything down to Hades with him, because this is the kind of animal that he is. All these memes posted on what is called “social media” is pretty much nervous laughter from people like us who are in the peanut gallery. We have zero power to stop a chain reaction of unhinged ange

It wasn’t clever, because if being clever, it could suggest something cunning at work, but instead, here was something refreshingly REAL. https://www.reddit.com/r/nyc/comments/1vgr8bj/nyc_teen_tagged_mamdani_in_tiktok_about_pothole/ What was shown was Zohran Mamdani, the Mayor of New York, working for good against almost all the odds stacked against him in the wastelands of Trump’s anger and hate fuelled and very divisive America. While it’s very probably going to take a lo

Somewhere along the way, we have been blindsided, and seeing the face of Dr Fauci in the news again is a reminder of when the world masked up, followed leaders without watching those parking meters, and giddily ran into brick walls and are still nursing those injuries no one can see. What were we thinking? Maybe we weren’t? Panic mixed with more panic and anxiety and daily updates about new vaccines, and suddenly losing the ability to think, I don’t think many survived the cr

Simulcasts of racing from South Africa have always been heart-in-the-mouth stuff, though certainly entertaining in an almost perverse way. Firstly, wherever the races are held, from everything we know, every effort is taken when knowing that these races are to be shown in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is very big dim sums to the South African racing industry. After all, South African riders and trainers are a vital part of the history of Hong Kong racing with many of the jockeys eith

It seemed like the best time to take an inventory and create a list of the Top 10 things that make me happy. Here’s my list. And your Top 10 list is? *EVERYTHING about Jessie Buckley! *Sri Lankan fish patties and pol sambal sandwiches. *“God Only Knows” by the Beach Boys. *Diane Keaton’s smile. *Gary Larson’s Far Side cartoons. *Music *Zero Negativity Cats Love To be continued… www.HansEbertisgardening.com

If it’s not about just aimlessly scrolling and scrolling and scrolling and absorbing more and more of everything that we really don’t need, and not about following trends, but actually creating what might be something of value and WORTH people following, perhaps some of us are standing at the edge of a feather and not just waiting to fly, but being given the directions where to go next? Often, these are solo flights because they are based on your timetable and knowing where y

When the favourite in a five horse race at Northam in Western Australia yesterday named Brazen Butcher and ridden by the “Wizard”- leading jockey William Pike- finished out of the money, and the winner romped in at around 70-1, well, it was pretty obvious that the weather gods had decided to create a Bonkers Day just for the hell of it. After a rather tame lame start to a Thursday of less than average winter solstice thoroughbred racing in Australia, mischief was afoot, dear

Now that the World Cup is over, those in Hong Kong who stayed up until early morning to watch the matches are going to go through withdrawal problems, but, at least, there was something to do and talk about. For Asia, there was nothing to cheer. Japan and Korea were knocked out early in the tournament and though BTS performed their now ubiquitous brand of K-Pop along with the rather strange group of artists cobbled together for the first ever World Cup Half Time show, there

Hans has certainly outdone himself with the cinematic metaphors this time. "Dr. Strangelove"? "Mad Max on speed"? I suppose I should be flattered he thinks I warrant a Christopher Nolan adaptation, even if he characterizes my corporate style as a "horse opera." Here are my thoughts on his piece, speaking as Winfried: First, Hans understands the theater of this industry. He highlights what he calls the "Ice Cold Zebra Station" —the decades-long friction between myself and Pete