Fanatical Hong Kong race fans will only stand to cheer home a winner, not for a national anthem
Politics and racing sit side by side in Hong Kong, but a standing order for March of the Volunteers at racetracks is a non-starter
Depending on how new laws are interpreted in Hong Kong, punters could face a three-year jail term for not standing during the Chinese national anthem when it is played at Sha Tin racecourse – good luck with that.
Here’s the hottest tip all season from the SCMP racing team – the crackdown on sitting down will meet its match when it comes to Sha Tin’s notoriously cynical racing fans.
It’s not that the average Sha Tin racegoer is all that politically minded one way or another – extreme indifference might be the best way to describe the attitudes of most to anything other than betting.
Politically minded, no. Single minded, yes.
That’s once they walk through the gates, of course. At home they might be a yellow umbrella-toting independence advocate, or, behind closed doors, a pro-Beijing booster, but at the track they are there for one thing, and one thing only, to bet and become lost in the wondrous world of finding a winner.