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jb
13-02-2003, 21:03
Top Hong Kong Job For Australian Journalist


Story By Chris Scholtz


Thursday, 13 February 2003: Australian journalist Murray Bell has been appointed racing editor of the South China Morning Post newspaper in Hong Kong.

“I regard this as the number one position in the world for a racing journalist and I’m honoured to have been selected from applicants around the world,” Bell told Racing and Sports.

Like most things in Hong Kong racing the South China Morning Post will boast a strong Australian influence as Bell will be joining former Sydney journalist Alan Aitken on the paper’s racing staff.
Aitken has been employed by the SCMP for the last two years as a senior racing writer.

Bell,48, worked on the racing staff of metropolitan papers in Melbourne and Sydney at various times from 1973 until 1999 when he left the Sydney Daily Telegraph to pursue racing interests in Singapore.

He has also been a successful bloodstock consultant and a major contributor to leading international racing publications for more than 25 years. Other roles have included executive positions with the NSW Racehorse Owners Association and NSW Racing Media Association.

Since his move to Singapore Bell has mixed media work with his bloodstock consultancy business, including the contribution to Racing and Sports of an informative weekly report on racing in Asia.

Bell, well regarded for his knowledge and views on the breeding industry, has raced or syndicated a number of successful horses in Australia and Singapore.

His first horse Seiger was a Group 3 winner of 10 races and over $220,000. He has subsequently been responsible for purchasing or selecting over 100 individual winners of more than 400 races, including current Group One stars Lord Essex and Fields of Omagh and past Group winners Gamine, Taj Quillo, Ark Regal, Mountain Rule, Pray for Colleen and Speeding Fine.

He has raced several winners in Singapore over the last two years including the Group winner St Kentigern.

Bell will move to Hong Kong next week in preparation for the Hong Kong Gold Cup meeting on February 23.

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jrb
14-02-2003, 05:09
Now that's a job I wouldn't mind having.

Why are Australian journos, racecallers/presenters, stewards etc so popular in HK ? The SCMP has Bell, Hats and Clint Hutch, there's David "rally" Raphael (as an exercise of dubious value, I suggest you count the number of times David says "rallies" during his calls on Sunday - if you can believe him, there's more rallying going on in your average HK race meeting than in the Paris to Dakar !) and Darren Flindell on the TV/internet and Jamie Stier and Killer Kelly in the stewards' room. Must be like Earl's court over there at the moment !

hazbeen
18-04-2007, 11:35
Is it worth paying the money to get Murray's text tips for the meetings. What is the strike rate like?

hobbes
18-04-2007, 17:38
Is it worth paying the money to get Murray's text tips for the meetings. What is the strike rate like?


No. I don't know re strike rate but if it was enough to profit from it would be an historical first.

horse
09-06-2007, 10:06
best to pick your own winners ,feel better about it in the end

my 2 cents

hazbeen
10-06-2007, 18:57
Best judge in the world , by all reports

hobbes
10-06-2007, 19:13
Is it worth paying the money to get Murray's text tips for the meetings. What is the strike rate like?


they should be available in the SCMP for free.

re best judge in the world = total rubbish.

the old saying "those who can, do; those who can't teach or write books." should have included "or work as journalists" !!

Hallelujah!
11-06-2007, 00:00
Teaching is the most important profession there is and without journalism we would have nothing to prove we have freedom of speech?

hazbeen
11-06-2007, 22:36
Murray does offer his exclusive tip for a hong kong dollar.

A full set for the meeting are still free, if you buy the racing post.

hobbes
13-06-2007, 02:04
many years ago a waiter at a disco in Wanchai used to give me one tip on a Thu night when i was out. invariably they would be around 6.00 to 8.00 in the opening market on Sat morning when they should have been 30.00 or 40.00. ( he now works for me, is an USD millionaire & no longer listens to tips ).

usually noone else gave me tips but one Fri night i got "hot tips" on 3 horses in the same seven horse race. in the last 10 minutes of betting yet another horse firmed in to about a 2.25 favourite ( for no good reason ) so all those horses were overbet.

this meant our computer model made the other 3 horses in the race big overlays so i was obliged to bet them heavily, albeit quite nervously.

2 of the non tipped horses ran the quinella for a big win.

in HK i have met some relatively smart racing journalists & some of them were good enough to win punting on the horses. some of them still work for me & are also USD millionaires but i am not aware of any of them selling their tips for money.

even if they did you would not be able to win from the tips because you would not know when not to bet the tip if the price got too short OR because they would all become underlays if too many people followed the tips of the tipster ( whether journalist or otherwise ).

over many many years i would have sometimes given tips to friends but they have very very rarely managed to win from them ( even when we had a huge winning night ).

jean
13-06-2007, 08:01
Bell will move to Hong Kong next week in preparation for the Hong Kong Gold Cup meeting on February 23.Time to move for me too! Property in Singapore has gone over the top! Yesterday I got an offer on my apartment double the price for what I bought it a year ago. I want to sell it now as quick as possible. Anyhow I do not like the place.
Anyone living in Macau by the way? If so, any reasons to not live there?
( he now works for me, is an USD millionaire & no longer listens to tips ).
some of them still work for me & are also USD millionaires but i am not aware of any of them selling their tips for money.Is it so easy to make money on HK racing?

hobbes
13-06-2007, 14:59
Is it so easy to make money on HK racing?

absolutely not. many serious professionals have tried & failed.

also you have not grasped all that i was implying.

leviathan
18-06-2007, 15:43
HK is quite different to most other racing markets for many reasons which may well explain why many serious professionals from other markets / countries fail in HK but remain successful in their place of origin

horse
19-06-2007, 02:50
off topic but i find hong kong racing # 1 in my books, and the easiest to study and predict. there class system is #1 and easy to follow