By EMILY CHAN Photo CALVIN SIT, STEFANO GRASSO, FRANK
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WITNESS TO A CITY By EMILY CHAN photo CALVIN SIT, STEFANO GRASSO, FRANK SORGE, HONG KONG JOCKEY CLUB, ISTOCK/GETTYIMAGES 48 GALLOPMAGAZINE Horse racing is huge in Hong Kong – and very diferent, especially from an owner’s point of view. Meet Hong Kong racehorse owner Arthur Antonio da Silva, a man who has been a member of the Hong Kong Jockey Club for almost half a century. This is his take on lessons he has learnt as an owner, his love of racing and his thoughts on the future of Hong Kong’s Thoroughbred industry. GALLOPMAGAZINE 49 rthur Antonio da Silva, also known as Archie, is a familiar face not only to Hong Kong racegoers, but to many general citizens of Hong Kong as well. In 2003, when Hong Kong was deeply troubled by the SARS epidemic, Archie’s racehorse Silent Witness brought light and glory to the city with his his- torical 17 race winning streak. The gelding gave citizens more hopeA and courage than perhaps any of the government’s own campaigns. “I was very, very happy and over the moon that my dreams had come true,” says Archie. “It’s hard to explain the really special feelings I had when Silent Witness won for the 17th time in a row, but it was one of the highlights of my life.” Many can still recall Archie, screaming, cheering and crying for Silent Witness at every single race, often oblivious to the TV cameras and photographers around him capturing all of his emotions. Archie’s ancestors were originally from Portugal, but moved to Macau in 1690. In 1842, when Hong Kong came under British rule, there were lots of work opportunities available, and his great grandfather Emiliano da Silva migrated from Macau to neighboring Hong Kong. “It’s hard to explain With a population of 33,000 in the 1850s, Hong Kong was one of many important trading ports along the China coast. the really special feelings There were no skyscrapers filling up the city’s skyline alongside Victoria Harbour like today. Instead, the scent from sandal- I had when Silent Witness wood incense factories in Aberdeen, on the western edge of the won for the 17th time in island, flowed across the harbor, giving Hong Kong the Cantonese name Heung Gong – literally meaning “fragrant a row, but it was one of harbor.” the highlights of my life.” ARCHIE WAS BORN in Hong Kong in 1947, and he inherited his love of horse racing from his father, prominent lawyer Marcus Alberto da Silva. 50 GALLOPMAGAZINE “My dad died young at the age of 49 (when I was 10 years squeezed in between high-rises on some of the most valuable old) but during the 1940s and early 1950s, he was crazy about land on the planet. horse racing,” Archie says as he lights up a cigarette. “He owned Horse racing was initially an annual sporting event only, usu- 13 racehorses and went to every race meeting. I wanted to fol- ally scheduled during the Chinese New Year, and it was fre- low in my father’s footsteps.” quented by the British Governor, military officers, businessmen Horse racing in Hong Kong has a long and rich history that and locals. In the early days, runners at Happy Valley can be traced back to the 19th century. Four years after the Racecourse were not Thoroughbreds but rather Mongolian po- sett lement of the British Colony, the first race meeting in Hong nies ridden by amateur riders. The ponies were characterized Kong was held on 17 December 1846. by their large heads, short legs and necks, deep chests and long The lack of natural flat land has been a problem of Hong bodies, as well as outstanding stamina, but offered less excite- Kong from the beginning, and the only apparently suitable site ment in flat racing because of their slower pace. was a piece of flat swamp known as “Wong Nai Chung” by the Between 1941 and 1945 in the midst of the Sino-Japanese locals. This track was later renamed to Happy Valley, and it is war, Hong Kong had fallen into the hands of the Japanese gov- still one of the two racecourses in the city, but now it is ernment. After the Japanese had surrendered, the colonial GALLOPMAGAZINE 51 British government resumed racing in 1947. Archie’s father was one of the owners of this era and cam- paigned some of his horses on his own and some with Archiehis’s Godfather, Leo dD’Almada, who was also a very famous and prominent lawyer. ALL OF HIS RACEHORSES (except the last one, which was called Thunder Sky) were named after witnesses as a tribute to his work as a lawyer. Therefore, Marcus da Silva had horses with names such as Silent Witness, Nervous Witness, Prime Witness, and Crown Witness. Archie’s racehorses nowadays have the same names as his dad’s racehorses used to have. “I’m running out of names now, and this is why my latest horse is called I’m a Witness,” says Archie. “This is a name I in- vented myself! My dad loved horse racing, but he was not very successful as an owner.” Archie explained that back then the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which was established in 1884 to promote horse racing, did not Hong Kong’s economy skyrocketed in the 1970s and ‘80s, and allow horse owners to buy their racehorses. Instead, every sea- it was also a turning point for the racing industry. son the HKJC would import horses that had never raced before. In 1971, racing turned from amateur to professional, meaning The club would allocate a horse to each owner randomly only full-time professionals could train, exercise and ride horses through balloting and pure luck. at Happy Valley. This attracted leading jockeys and trainers “If your luck was good, HKJC would allocate a good horse to from overseas to work in Hong Kong, especially from Australia, you, but if your luck was bad, then you would get a bad horse,” and Thoroughbreds replaced the Mongolian ponies on the track. he says. “That’s why I can’t judge my dad and say he was bad at picking horses because it was out of his control. The horses OFF-COURSE BETTING BRANCHES and telephone betting ser- were allocated to him by the HKJC.” vices opened in 1974 and caused the weekly turnover to rise from HK$1 million to HK$7 million in six months. The Club ARCHIE DID NOT immediately follow his father into the racing also built a second racecourse at Sha Tin in the New Territories game. Instead, he graduated from the University of Hong Kong to cope with the demand of the sport. Amid all this, Archie’s and chose to enter the air freight industry. passion and hard work also brought him success in his business. “When I graduated from university at 19 in 1966, I was too “When my dad died, we were quite poor, as he left little lazy to continue my studies, and I saw an advert in a newspaper money for us,” he says. “I managed to succeed because of very that said, ‘Join Jardines / British Airways, and get a free famil- hard work and doing well at school, and I managed to be ac- iarization trip to Tokyo,’ ” says Archie. “I had never flown at cepted to the University of Hong Kong on a scholarship. I that time and never been to Japan, so I was very much attracted would say my business is pretty successful. I took over Jet- by this and applied.” Speed in 1976 and entered the Chinese market in the 1980s.” 52 GALLOPMAGAZINE conformation and faultless temperament. Silent Witness was laid back on the way to the starting gates and seemingly just as relaxed SILENT WITNESS midrace as he typically cruised along in front while his opponents were being ridden hard just to stay in touch. The winning run that started in December 2002 finally came to – The Perfect Sprinter an end in April, 2005 and it took a step up to 1600 meters and an exceptionally lucky winning run for it to happen. Outstanding Hong It wasn’t just the record of 17 straight Kong miler and subsequent Horse of the Year Bullish Luck secured wins or that he was named World’s Best an uninterrupted run on the fence to come from behind and switch course at precisely the right time to grab the 5/1 on favourite in the Sprinter three years straight, it was the very last stride in the G1 Champions Mile. Trainer Tony Cruz gave way Hong Kong superstar Silent Witness the champion another attempt at the mile three weeks later in the won his races that stamped him as a prestigious Yasuda Kinen in Tokyo, but he once again just failed to sprinter of the highest calibre. get the trip and ran third in a blanket finish. by Shane McNally After a four-month break, Silent Witness resumed as a 6-year- old to win his only race away from Hong Kong. And what a win it was, with the gelding coming from behind to race to the lead at the For well over two years after making his debut at Sha Tin in late furlong and win the 1200 meters Sprinters Stakes eased-up in a 2002, Silent Witness was virtually untouchable over sprint distances, blistering 1.07.3. winning nine Group 1 races agaainst the best from Australia, Europe, There’s been plenty of debate as to whether Silent Witness the Unites States, Japan and South Africa.