The Internet is buzzing this week after the discovery of a multi-speared dart gun buried in the track surface behind the starting gate at a Hong Kong racetrack. The device was loaded to be able to hit the rumps of multiple horses loaded in the gate.

I know this sounds like a scene from the Marx Brothers’ “Day at the Races” but this really happened. More importantly, one wonders about security at the racetrack at Sha Tin, site of the 2008 Olympics Equestrian Events, only 18 months away.

Certainly the mastermind of the dart gun device had a betting window payoff in mind, but I’m not the only one who is thinking about what a discovery like this says about security at the Olympics and other high-profile horse events and races.

To learn more about the dart gun scandal and how it may relate to security for horses at the Olympics, I recommend a story in Tuesday’s “>New York Times.

In defense of Hong Kong, we must ask the question: is there a safe place on the planet? Comments, please!