About turning a Zacadocius achievement NOT into a school prize giving ceremony, but into an EVENT, children of the HKJC corn.
There was a quiet, but very sharp verbal bullet shot out when Zac Purton was asked by Captain Obvious about his feelings in having just ridden two thousand winners in Hong Kong.
Though applauding the achievement and knowing how much he had to go through to prove his “worth” to Hong Kong racing, what didn’t go unnoticed was Zac taking aim and mentioning how he didn’t have anyone rolling out the red carpet for him.
This was a not so subtle dig at all the jumping through hoops done to welcome Joao Moreira into the riding ranks in the city, and with Jeremy Greene from the Club given the role of making sure that the Magic Man’s riding stock was constantly being replenished.
Nothing against Joao: You want me, then make me happy and not look like a boob!
I can understand Zac’s feelings as time doesn’t heal all wounds. And now that he has well and truly made it in the global arena of horse racing, those onetime naysayers and critics of the jockey will be busy gulping down and choking on extremely thick slices of humble pie.
What might I have done? Easy to say, but I would have probably flown in Andre 2000 or Pharrell Williams or Snoop Dogg to present Zac Purton with something memorable- like maybe a gold crusted pretzel.
The photo opportunities and interest by the wire services would have been enormous if someone like Snoop Dogg had been here. But settling for an article in the local newspapers?Nothing like preaching to the choir of the converted.
Here’s another thing: if you’re going to honour someone for any noteworthy achievement, it really shouldn’t be a ho hum corporate affair not that far removed from being handed another of those commemorative caps. It should be a celebration and not some amateurish disconnect that looked poorly thought through.
Still very much being a “Mad Man” from the Don Draper school of advertising and marketing, where’s the sustainability in any of this fluffy stuff?
Was the “school prize giving ceremony” by the headmaster the best that the Dad’s army of HKJC marketing gremlins could do? And now what?
Well, we could go back to my ongoing love affair with the pale blue floral blue dress worn to the races recently by Mary Huen, CEO of Standard Chartered Hong Kong and Mainland and Northern China.
When originally writing about this blue dress, it was offering up a subtle idea where the HKJC could perhaps embrace promoting a sense of casual chic style that MIGHT give the local racing world something to hang its chapeau on.
And being HKJC sponsors, couldn’t the Standard Chartered global theme line of “Now Is Your Time” not have been part of Zac Purton’s “Countdown 2000”?
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