The Hong Kong Jockey Club wrapped up an historic season July 14 with a passing of the “Horse of the Year” baton and an eye fixed on a future that includes local challenges and vast new opportunity on the Chinese Mainland.
The HKJC staged 88 race meetings during the 2023-24 term, split between its flagship Sha Tin Racecourse in New Territories and the unique, in-town Happy Valley course. Total racing turnover for the season was HK$134.7 billion (about US$17.24 billion), representing a 4.5% decrease year-on-year, reflecting Hong Kong’s recent economic downturn.
The economics were eclipsed by unrivaled on-track performances, both in Hong Kong and on the global scene, highlighted by the globetrotting exploits of newly crowned Horse of the Year Romantic Warrior. Along the way, Hong Kong horses swept six of the seven group 1 races comprising its two big international days.
“Our world-class racing is truly an international brand in Hong Kong,” said HKJC CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges. “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.”
Engelbrecht-Bresges noted Hong Kong has only about 1,200 horses in training, comprising just 0.7% of the world population, yet landed 13 group 1 races around the world during the season. Four of Hong Kong’s stars—Romantic Warrior, Golden Sixty, Lucky Sweynesse and California Spangle —were in the top 15 in the 2023 Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings. California Spangle also won the Al Quoz Sprint (G1T) in Dubai in March.
Romantic Warrior, though, was the star of stars for Hong Kong with top-level wins in three jurisdictions.
He became the first Hong Kong horse to win the Cox Plate (G1) at Moonee Valley in Australia in October, returned to Hong Kong to win the Hong Kong Cup (G1), Hong Kong Gold Cup (G1), and QEII Cup (G1). He put the cherry on the sundae by whipping top Japanese milers in the Yasuda Kinen (G1) in June in Tokyo. The five elite-level races were the most ever in a single season for a Hong Kong-trained horse.
That was sufficient for Romantic Warrior to supplant three-time Horse of the Year Golden Sixty as age, some nagging infirmities and course conditions caught up with that 8-year-old veteran. Nonetheless, Golden Sixty provided one of the true thrills of the season as he stormed down the Sha Tin straight to demolish a world-class field in December’s Hong Kong Mile (G1), shrugging off a 224-day absence and the outside gate.
It was old and new celebrating championships among the humans as Zac Purton’s 130 victories made him the jockey champ for the seventh time while Francis Lui earned top-trainer honors for the first time in a race that came down to the final meeting.
Eventually, though, it all comes down to money. Noting the economic conditions weighing on Hong Kong, Engelbrecht-Bresges emphasized the HKJC has put in place programs and purse bonus plans to encourage horse ownership and is focused on increasing racing’s draw as a tourist attraction. He said the closing-day crowd of more than 30,000 at Sha Tin included “a record number of over 6,000 Mainland visitors, which is amazing.”
The tourism aspect of the plans intersects with the Club’s perhaps understated goals for its massive Conghua Racecourse and training center some four hours north of Hong Kong on the Mainland. The facility, just six years old, is already nearing completion of an ambitious expansion that will facilitate the inauguration of regular, international-standard race meetings in 2026—a development of signal interest to local and national political structures.
“I am pleased to see the enormous progress made by Conghua Racecourse in just six years since its opening. 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,” Engelbrecht-Bresges said.
Expansion of the Conghua stable area to 1,000 stalls will also permit the long-needed renovation of the Sha Tin stables.
While the HKJC has pioneered expansion of global wagering through its development of World Pool international comingling, Engelbrecht-Bresges emphasized the need to focus on its local challenges as the 2024-25 season is already just over the horizon.
“Under such a challenging economic situation, our overall season racing turnover is satisfactory,” he said. “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.”
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