A Gala Dinner and a Tour of Ordos

“It is said that when we dream alone, a dream is just a dream. But when we dream together, it is the beginning of reality.”

That's how the China Horse Club's Eden Harrington began his keynote address at last night's gala dinner at the 2016 Chinese Equine Cultural Festival in Ordos, Inner Mongolia. The CHC hosted some of the world's horse-racing heavies, some 300 of them, at the gala, which was an entertaining mix of Mongol song and culture intermixed with addresses by the likes of John Warren, the new chairman of CHC's International Advisory Council.

“It gives me great heart to see leaders of the Thoroughbred industry of America, Great Britain, Australia, Ireland, France, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Russia, that have come here to Ordos this weekend,” said Warren. “This shows the kind of appetite and interest people in racing have, all over the world, to develop relationships in our sport [with Chinese interests]. We've seen the ability of the Chinese to create great successes in sport, like boxing, tennis, table tennis, and of course the Olympics. And most recently we've seen it with football. With the appropriate support, there's every reason to believe the Chinese can be equally successful in the Thoroughbred business. It's appropriate that this nation, which has over 5,000 years over equine history, is synonymous with the horse.”

The CEFC, highlighted by a day of racing at Ordos Yiqi Racecourse on Sunday, is the brainchild of the China Horse Club's Teo Ah Khing, and Warren recognized Khing as a man with a vision.

“Five years ago, I met Mr. Teo Ah Khing, who helped Sheikh Muhammed of Dubai build one of the most incredible, iconic racecourses on the planet,” said Warren. “Since then, my admiration has done nothing but grow for this man. He's the driver of not only this event, but he has attempted with great determination to show the Chinese people what the sport of racing is all about. And he has done so with style. Being correct and trustworthy goes all the way in this environment, and I would encourage anyone who has reason to connect, to do so with confidence.”

Harrington's opening address, too, stressed the latent opportunities in the world's most populace country (1.378 billion, as of Aug. 20).

“This is a people that have been successful in culture, in science, and more recently, innovation and sporting excellence,” said Harrington. “And they can again become leaders in the equine industry. By being here this evening, we know that you embody the theme of the 2016 CECF Ordos: to share the dream. That you share the dream to be part of something that is going to collectively transform an idea–something so delicate and fragile–into something more. Something that expands across China and beyond. To share a dream of a commercial racing and breeding industry here in China. To share a dream of Chinese jockeys, trainers, owners and racehorses excelling on every continent. To share a dream of fostering new talent. To share a dream of creating a non-polluting, job-creating industry that fits a modern China, to share a dream of building cultural, business, and sporting bridges with other nations through horse racing.”

Attendees at the gala were treated to a wide array of Mongol cultural experiences. Two long long rows of white-robed musicians played the horse-headed fiddle, a two-stringed standing instrument–a banjo-cum-cello–that features prominently in Mongol traditional music. The crowd heard a song from a style known as 'The Long Song,” so called because the singer holds each syllable for lengthy duration. (How long can they get? The host noted the jam “The Old Man and the Bird,” a classic that runs 3 1/2 hours.)

Five pieces of artwork were auctioned off, with the proceeds split between a local charity for disabled peoples and an agricultural university in Ordos.

And jockey Chen Liwas given an 'inspiration award.' The young Barbados-based rider, the product of a China Horse Club-sponsored initiative to encourage excellence in various equine fields, suffered a fractured pelvis when a horse flipped over onto him during morning training. He's currently in re-hab in China and is expected to return to race riding in three or four months.

Tour of Ordos

Chances are you hadn't heard of Ordos before it was announce the CECF would be held here, despite the fact it's the commercial center of Inner Mongolia, and, in terms of per-capita income, one of China's richest cities. If you have heard of it, it's likely from its reputation as China's 'Ghost City,' a large, modern, clean, well-kept metropolis that nonetheless often feels devoid of people. The city was part of an urban-planning project that aimed to relocating some two million people of an older district to a brand-new one. A Costner-ist vision, if ever there was one.

Ten years ago, construction for much of the city was completed, just in time for the global economic collapse. The local economy was dependent on Ordos's rich coal deposits, and when demand sank, so too did the prospects for many of Ordos's businesses. Today, there are rows of towering apartment buildings that still sit empty. (“You can tell the empty units because they don't have air conditioners,” one person told me.) One estimate I read put the current population at 200,000.

It's a shame, really, because the city is beautiful. The roadways, and the avenues and streets, are wide and well lit. There are numerous parks and green spaces, and lots of terrific public art. There are equine forms everywhere. Near the Ordos theater buildings, built to resemble the traditional hats worn by Mongol men and women, there are statues of two stallions rearing up against each other. Cartoon horses are painted on retaining walls and alongside the highway, and there are smaller equine statues dotted throughout the city.

The horse played a major role in Mongol history, and is still revered today in much the same way it is in Arab culture. In one city square, there are four massive statues that celebrate ancestral life in Ordos, as well as Ghengis Khan, the Mongol warlord whose successful, if brutal, campaigns led to the creation of the largest contiguous empire in history. The most striking of them is a small mountain of a monument, the sides of which are covered in fierce warriors on horseback. Sitting at the top of all this is Genghis Khan, arm raised, in full battle regalia.

There's also some impressive architecture in Ordos. Maybe the gem of the city is the Ordos museum, a curved, sweeping, bronze-colored building with no corners. In essence, a brown bean bag chair brought to life as a fantastic building. Inside are exhibits dedicated to the history and culture of Ordos, as well as, interestingly, a three-story fossilized dinosaur (possibly a brontosaurus).

There's the Ordos Library, built to look like three leading books on a shelf, and a number of sports complexes, each designing with daring, futuristic facades.

If a Thoroughbred breeding industry ever takes root in China, there's good reason to believe it would be based right here in Ordos, and the China Horse Club has plans for a vast breeding complex in the area.

Who knows? It's a longshot, but maybe horses can do what coal couldn't, and bring a city bursting with promise to life.