Record Attendance at HKIR

With fully two hours until the 12:25 p.m. first post Sunday at Sha Tin, the grandstand and apron were well on their way to being fully occupied. When all was said and done, a record 85.552 patrons went through the turnstiles, a 9% improvement on the corresponding figure from last year. Turnover for the entire program was HK$1.449 billion (US$186.9 million), a marginal decrease from 2014, but not enough to dampen the enthusiasm of Hong Kong Jockey Club officials.

“Going into today's meeting it looked like it was going to be the best ever HKIR and it proved to be–it certainly was tremendous,” said HKJC Chief Executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges. “The distribution of wins, with an Irish horse, two Japanese horses and a Hong Kong horse winning, shows the global appeal of this occasion. Our turnover was down by just more than 1% on last year, but it is still the second highest turnover in the history of the event, so from a financial point of view we are very satisfied.”

Bill Nader, the outgoing executive director of racing for the HKJC, added, “Today is a true celebration of international sport at its finest and when you wake up on a day like today, you know you're going to see something special. I think when you look at the growth of this day, if you go back to 2005, the total attendance was only 44,000 and today we have 85,500. The mass appeal in Hong Kong and globally, and this occasion's rise up to become world racing's culminating event each year, is not only a spectacular success for the Hong Kong Jockey Club but also the sport at large.”