“The horse that walks around, eats grass, looks at the view and gives every appearance of tranquility was, in fact, designed by God to explode.” So says an expert on the thoroughbred horse, quoted in the Racing Museum at the Hong Kong Jockey Club. And explode the horses do, twice a week, at Hong Kong’s famed race courses at Happy Valley and Sha Tin, along with the packed stands of spectators.
Horse Racing in Hong Kong
Horse racing has been a part of Hong Kong since its earliest days as a British colony, when swampy marshland on Hong Kong Island was drained to make way for a racetrack. The swampy marshland was called Happy Valley, and its racetrack has since become one of the most famous race courses in the world.
The headquarters of the influential Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) are also in Happy Valley. Founded in 1884, it used to be said the colony was ruled by “the Jockey Club, the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, and the Governor – in that order,” as the writer Jan Morris records in her book Hong Kong.
Despite competition from other gambling outlets, principally the casinos of Macau, horse racing still occupies a special place in the Hong Kong psyche. Jan Morris records how, back in 1986, when 300 detectives cracked down on drug-traffickers and loan-sharks all over the territory, they chose “that moment of universal distraction, the start of the three o’clock race at Happy Valley.”
Today, there are two race meetings a week during the ten-month season, on Wednesday evenings at Happy Valley, and alternate Saturday and Sunday afternoons at Sha Tin in the New Territories. The Hong Kong Jockey Club is lobbying to increase the number of race meetings to help combat the effect of the economic downturn.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club
Gambling in Hong Kong is legally restricted to horse racing, the Mark Six lottery, and football (soccer), all of which are administered by the Hong Kong Jockey Club. Legally obliged to funnel its profits into charitable endeavours since 1871, the Club today spends over HK$1 billion a year on worthy causes, and is the territory’s largest taxpayer. The Club has financed a range of cultural, social and medical projects over the years, including Ocean Park and the Hong Kong Arts Festival. The Club also paid over HK$1 billion to build facilities for the equestrian events of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In Hong Kong horse race betting per capita is the highest in the world, and much of that money goes to good causes.
For HK$100 (US$13) visitors can buy a Tourist Badge, which allows entrance into both the stands and the indoor dining and viewing areas. It is also possible to book organized tours via hotels and the Hong Kong Tourist Board offices in Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Tsui.
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