Hong Kong Jockey Club Stages First Mainland Races

The Hong Kong Jockey Club staged its first-ever races in mainland China March 23 with an audience including top government officials from throughout the region.

With misty mountainsides in the background, the five "demonstration" races over the Hong Kong Jockey Club Conghua Racecourse turf came off without a hitch despite a late-day downpour—a critical showing of the potential for the racing and training facility to become a tourism magnet for the region.

"This is an historic moment … a great success. We are really pleased," said Hong Kong Jockey Club CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges. "This has been a long journey, but we are very happy with the outcome."

Conghua Racecourse opened for training in August and has hosted trial races. The "Demonstration Race Day," however, was the first official racing, and about 3,500 spectators turned out from around the region.

The governor of Guangdong Province, the mayor of Conghua, and central government officials from Beijing joined Carrie Lam, chief executive of Hong Kong, to celebrate the occasion.

"Today's race day marks a new era for international-quality equine sport in mainland China," Lam said.

She pledged the cooperation of the Hong Kong government to "ensure the development of world-class, equine-related professionals in the mainland and the continuing growth of equine sports in the country."

"Today's event," Lam added, "is significant because it is not only jointly organized by the Hong Kong Jockey Club and the Conghua District government but also a laudable example of high-level cooperation between Hong Kong and Guangdong."

The HKJC has promoted Conghua as the leading edge of a potential equine disease-free zone encompassing the Greater Bay Area in southern China, promoting sports events and tourism from Guangdong to Hong Kong and Macau.

Engelbrecht-Bresges said the success of the day will prompt a review with an eye toward expansion of racing at the facility, located about a four hours' drive north of Hong Kong.

"We had certain hopes," he said. "Those hopes have been actualized. Not many racing organizations could pull this off."

The races themselves were modest by Hong Kong's high standards. Trainer Richard Gibson and jockey Matthew Chadwick did the honors in the first-ever race at Conghua as Nordic Warrior, a 4-year-old Dutch Art gelding, split rivals in the stretch to win by 1 1/4 lengths.

The five races were won by five trainers. Chad Schofield rode two winners.

The races were conducted without wagering in accord with mainland Chinese law, and the HKJC went to some lengths to guard against illicit betting. Video of the races back to Hong Kong was delayed by 15 minutes, and there were tight restrictions against individual streaming or reporting of the results.

Engelbrecht-Bresges said the intent of staging races on the mainland was to demonstrate the appeal of the sport and not to push for legalization of wagering.

"It's not about gambling," he said. "It's about the sport. It cannot be perceived as pushing gambling. It's not for us to push policy.

"The good news is that there is a policy now that horse racing is permitted. The rest, I am not someone who can predict the future."

The Conghua Racetrack is officially portrayed by the HKJC as a training and rehabilitation facility that significantly expands its capacity to stable horses. Before Conghua opened in August 2018, all horses racing in Hong Kong were stabled at Sha Tin Racecourse in the New Territories.

The Sha Tin stables were at capacity and in need of renovation. The 664 individual stalls at Conghua provide a relief valve, freeing up space at Sha Tin for repairs and upgrades, and also will allow an increase in the total horse population.

Planning and construction of Conghua took more than a decade at a cost of some HK$3.7 billion, or nearly US$500 million. The site, nestled in a wooded, mountainous hot springs resort area, has three tracks and an uphill turf gallop, full training, rehabilitation and clinic facilities, and housing for training and administrative staff.

Horses are transported between Conghua and Hong Kong through a tightly controlled biosecurity zone on specially designed horse floats. Trainers have reported good success shipping Conghua-trained runners to compete in Hong Kong throughout the current season, with 69 horses trained in Conghua winning 93 races in Hong Kong.