The 2023/24 Hong Kong racing season concluded at Sha Tin on Sunday, 14 July, with the 11-race card seeing the highest turnover of any race meeting in Hong Kong this season with a total of HK$1.867 billion (£184.1 million) wagered.
Hong Kong Jockey Club chief executive officer, Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, said: “We had the best-ever season finale, we want to position racing as a world-class entertainment and sporting event. We couldn’t have planned a better season finale than today when the on-course atmosphere and response from our 30,000 racing fans was amazing.”
Across the 2023/24 season, racing fans enjoyed 88 race meetings, including seven twilight fixtures, comprising 831 Hong Kong races and 368 overseas simulcast races.
The Hong Kong racing has a strong international presence, with 26 countries and more than 70 partners now commingling on Hong Kong racing, including Malaysia for the first time. Overall turnover on simulcasting (including World Pool commingling) for the season was up by approximately £1.3 billion.
This year the number of World Pool races increased from 175 to 258, with 83 races added, and the highlight being the expansion of the World Pool to Australia. World Pool turnover was up by 57.1% on last season.
Engelbrecht-Bresges continued: “Under such a challenging economic situation, our overall season racing turnover is satisfactory. While the Club will continue to grow and expand its overseas customer base, the decline in local racing wagering turnover underlines that it must constantly engage and re-engage with Hong Kong racing fans.”
This year’s champions were; jockey Zac Purton, who sealed a seventh Hong Kong jockeys’ championship with 130 wins, Francis Lui was crowned Hong Kong champion trainer for the first time, and Angus Chung took home the Tony Cruz Award for the leading homegrown jockey.
Expanding on the success in the racing this year, Engelbrecht-Bresges said: “Our world-class racing is truly an international brand in Hong Kong. I am deeply satisfied to see the joy and pride our champion horses, jockeys and trainers bring to racing fans not just in Hong Kong but around the world. These achievements are only possible because of the significant investment of our Owners.
“Collectively, these achievements are a wonderful endorsement of our strategy to develop our racing to become world class. In addition, we have long-term strategies to attract the best racing talent from around the world in combination with developing the best horses and the best home-grown talent.”
Another important highlight is HKJC’s strategic investment in the Greater Bay Area and Conghua Racecourse (CRC), with CRC being increasingly important in supporting Hong Kong’s racing as well as the National Equine Industry Development Plan 2020-2025 in the Greater Bay Area.
“I am pleased to see the enormous progress made by Conghua Racecourse in just six years since its opening” said Engelbrecht-Bresges, “not only is it providing world-class training to Hong Kong horses, but it is fast developing into an equine hub for the Greater Bay Area in support of the nation’s equine industry development.”
