By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-11-14 05:16:27 | Updated at 2024-11-22 11:16:40
1 week ago
Chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges has spoken of the “massive stimulus” that could come with a bona fide horse racing and breeding industry in China, as the Jockey Club continues to work with mainland authorities in areas such as integrity, horse welfare and disease control.
While Conghua Racecourse is the centrepiece of the club’s efforts on the mainland, its reach is far greater as it continues to offer guidance and expertise to mainland officials as they grow and promote racing through their National Equine Industry Development Plan (2020-2025).
That blueprint centres around the elevation of horse racing to global standards, enhancing horse welfare and improving integrity ahead of the possible implementation of a pilot system for horse racing on the basis of the existing sports lottery system.
The China Sports Lottery involves a range of games, including a football lottery, and could one day feature horse racing, either from Conghua or elsewhere in the country.
“When you look carefully in the National Equine Industry Development Plan, there is one passage which says there could be, maybe in a pilot zone, a horse race sports lottery,” Engelbrecht-Bresges said when asked if the Jockey Club could one day host betting in Hong Kong on racing in Conghua.
“But one of the key elements of the sport is you have to demonstrate you have the highest integrity, because this is one of the biggest concerns – that you have a sport, who could be maybe linked to a sports lottery, who has integrity issues.
“There will be a racing and breeding industry in China, [whether in] five years, 10 years [or] 15 years. Hong Kong is positioned as a global centre of excellence, so we help other organisers to improve systems, integrity and technical issues.
“We had visits from very senior people who looked at how we manage integrity. How we are able to manage what happens in illegal markets on our races and how we have integrity as a key value proposition in our apprentice training.
“People were impressed and at the moment we’re working with the sports administration [around] training programmes we have for integrity in sports [and] how we can help to train people in mainland China.”
Integrity is one of a number of areas the club has helped grow on the mainland, with Engelbrecht-Bresges confirming “we practically have trained 800 people from scratch with our vocational training institute” while creating significant employment.
In June, the club announced the opening of the Horse Racing Multi-Function Room at the Guangdong Vocational Institute of Sport, which will serve as a training base for the dual-curriculum Professional Sports Training Course (Horse Racing) programme, comprising both academic and vocational training.
China’s five-year equine development plan endorses horse racing as a sport and the huge demand for equine activities on the mainland has been evident by the increase in riding schools, with 8,000 now dotted around China as opposed to 1,000 a few years ago.
The plan also outlines objectives around breeding practices, veterinary and health standards and disease control.
“In 2027 there will be a quarantine facility ready in Conghua which will enable export of horses from Hong Kong into China,” Engelbrecht-Bresges said.
“At a later stage the best horses, be it equestrian or thoroughbred, could come via this quarantine station. These horses could theoretically run then in Conghua, in Happy Valley and in Sha Tin.
“With this, we could create a massive stimulus of a racing and breeding industry. You could have auctions on these horses. This is why we think long term.
“We have to even think, do we have to establish the capability to have a breeding industry, not in Hong Kong, but should we be part of it? So we are negotiating with some major operators about how we can have partnerships, but this is a five-to-10 year plan.”
Engelbrecht-Bresges also confirmed the club was planning weekly entertainment at Conghua Racecourse to compliment the horse racing programme, which will start at its mainland facility in April 2026.
“This facility is not only designed for four, five or six race meetings [a season]. You will have every weekend equestrian programmes and we have some other ideas besides the world-class racing,” he said.
“We have other attractions which we will announce, because we have to have something every weekend. It’s a destination.
“We [will] create a visitor centre which will be absolutely unique regarding technology, where we leverage technology in China to tell the story about horse racing. We have to become part of an ecosystem and generate positive benefits for the economy in Conghua.”
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