How you can bet on the International races in the enormous Hong Kong pools

The popularity of Hong Kong racing around the world continues to rise, with commingling into the world’s largest tote pool growing rapidly. British and Irish punters can now bet directly into these monster pots.

There is also now a degree of familiarity for racing fans with a steady stream of high-profile equine purchases leaving British and Irish soil to take up new residence in Hong Kong.

Jockeys Silvestre de Sousa, Oisin Murphy and Neil Callan are riding there, giving Hong Kong racing even more of a home-from-home feel.

Every meeting at Happy Valley (traditionally Wednesdays) and Sha Tin (usually Sundays) is screened live in Britain and Ireland’s betting shops, as well as on At The Races (soon to be Sky Sports Racing).

ATR will be covering all the action from Sunday's huge Hong Kong International Races (HKIR) meeting with a crew reporting live from Sha Tin.

A staggering amount is bet into Hong Kong pools and with numerous deals in place with many of Britain and Ireland’s leading bookmakers, punters can get involved in the action.

Place bets in high street betting shops

Hong Kong tote bets can be placed at high street betting shops including Betfred, Coral, Ladbrokes and William Hill, while online bets can be placed with Betfred, Coral, William Hill, Totepool, Black Type and BetPoint.

There is a wide range of bet types available in Hong Kong, although the easiest and most popular in Britain and Ireland are bets to win and place.

In betting shops, these are placed similarly to traditional tote bets by filling out a tote betting slip and populating the meeting name and the race number.

Shop staff will then process your bet directly into the Hong Kong pools in the same way as if you were betting into the tote pool at a domestic meeting.

Use the special tote betting slips

It is important to remember that these bets must be placed using a tote slip and not a plain betting slip.

The most popular bet in Hong Kong is the Quinella, which is the same as an exacta or a forecast in Britain and Ireland.

With a combination exacta or forecast it is possible to perm a Quinella and punters also have the option of a Quinella Place.

This bet is landed if you can find any two of the first three placed horses in any order in a race. And remember, no race in Hong Kong has more than 14 runners.

The Hong Kong pools offer plenty of different bet types which are set to be rolled out over the coming months.

They include the Tierce (1st, 2nd and 3rd in the correct order), Trio (1st, 2nd and 3rd in any order) and the First 4 (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th in any order) to name just a few.

If you are betting online or via an app with the likes of William Hill remember to search for Hong Kong racing under International Tote Pool betting – it won’t appear among the GB fixtures.

If you are concerned about your gambling and are worried you may have a problem, click here to find advice on how you can receive help