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First meeting at Conghua opens important chapter in Chinese story

Five races will be run on Saturday at HKJC's new high-trech track

Barrier trials last month served as as a dress rehearsal for Saturday's opening meeting at Conghua
Barrier trials last month served as as a dress rehearsal for Saturday's opening meeting at ConghuaCredit: Hong Kong Kockey Club

The Hong Kong Jockey Club stages the inaugural fixture at its brand-new Conghua track outside the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou on Saturday, with a good deal more than the honour of training a winner on the card riding on successful progress.

The Club has spent in the region of $400 million to develop the facility in order to expand Hong Kong's capacity for horses in training and to develop racing as a potential attraction both for the local population and visitors to this rapidly growing tourist destination.

The 77-rated Mr Genuine is the highest-rated horse on show to an invited crowd of 4,000, while there will be no betting on any of the five races, even back in Hong Kong.

Conghua's turf and dirt tracks at dawn
Conghua's turf and dirt tracks at dawn

But the meeting is an important evolutionary step in the partnership between HKJC and the Conghua district government, while officials much higher up the ladder in Beijing will undoubtedly be keeping a close eye on how the venture develops over the coming months and years.

At the official opening ceremony in August, the Guangzhou municipal authority's Chen Jianhua said: "After years of persisting efforts by relevant parties, a modern, high-tech, world-class racecourse, and China's largest world-class horse sport training centre, is now rising in front of us.

"The opening of Conghua racecourse lays a solid foundation for horse industry cooperation between Guangzhou and Hong Kong, opens things up for imagination, and presents a promising prospect for development."

Hong Kong stalwarts John Size, John Moore and Tony Cruz were among nine trainers who took up the HKJC's initial offer to split their operations between Sha Tin and Conghua, which welcomed its first equine inhabitants last summer.

Now the ten-furlong track will stage its first meeting, featuring 46 horses in the midst of the Hong Kong season and with HK$5.9 million (£575,000/€662,000) of prize-money on offer.

Sixteen of the HKJC's 21 trainers are represented across the five races, while racegoers will get to see some of the biggest stars of the Hong Kong weighing room, including reigning champion Zac Purton and visiting riders Silvestre de Sousa and Martin Harley.


First step on long road

Many will be asking whether we haven't been here before with regard to unlocking the huge potential market for horseracing in China.

Previous projects under the auspices of the China Horse Club and Emirates Racing Authority have shown potential but have suffered from inadequate infrastructure and an air of being one-offs, with little sign that a fly-in horse population would be able to thrive untethered to the rest of the racing world.

An aerial view of Conghua racecourse
An aerial view of Conghua racecourseCredit: Hkjc

Conghua has several of those bases covered already, not least of which is a hugely impressive facility, which features a full-time high-definition broadcast crew to enable Hong Kong trainers to watch horses working live back at base in Sha Tin.

Crucially, the track is part of an existing, nearby racing culture ripe for expansion in terms of horse population and fixtures.

Everything about the HKJC's approach has been to move at the pace the mainland Chinese authorities are happy with – there is as yet no grandstand at Conghua – and successful demonstrations such as Saturday's raceday are likely to lead to the course being more closely integrated into the Hong Kong calendar in future.

Betting on races at Conghua is not on the table for now, as the HKJC seeks to demonstrate its potential as a leisure destination.

But Conghua has already taken the mainland authorities much further down the road of accepting that racing could make a valuable contribution to Chinese society than any of its predecessors.

Scott Burton


If you are interested in this story, you can read:

On Location at Conghua with Howard Wright


Scott BurtonFrance correspondent

Published on 21 March 2019inInternational

Last updated 12:31, 23 March 2019

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