Hong Kong Jockey Club
Jockey Vincent Ho made history Wednesday night at iconic Happy Valley Racecourse on Hong Kong Island, becoming the first 'homegrown' rider to take out the prestigious Longines International Jockeys' Championship. With a narrow victory over Zac Purton in the fourth and final leg of the series, Ho amassed a total of 20 points to Purton's 18, with Australia's Rachel King and the locally based South African Lyle Hewitson on 16 points. King was declared outright third, with her victory in the first leg of the competition and an additional third-place...
There have been 27 individual World Pool Moment of the Day winners in the 2023 season--each winning groom receiving a £4,000 award--and an independent panel from the Hong Kong Jockey Club narrowed that list down to four finalists who will compete for a VIP trip for four to Hong Kong next year via a public vote. The finalists are Tomohiro Kusunoki, the groom of Japanese globetrotting superstar Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn); Paige Harrison, the groom of MG1SW Shaquille (GB) (Charm Spirit {Ire}); Raj Rasiah, groom of G1SW Quickthorn (GB)...
The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) has suspended Harry Bentley for two months for improper conduct. The jockey has been fined HK$300,000 after pleading guilty. In a two-day stewards' inquiry conducted last week, Bentley admitted to breaching rule 155 under the rules of racing in Hong Kong, which relates to misconduct, improper conduct or inappropriate behaviour. The HKJC found that the 31-year-old did engage in improper conduct due to "inappropriate communications in respect to information about horses he had ridden in trackwork, barrier trials or races with persons who were...
The World Pool season has ended with a 24% year-on-year turnover increase to HK$7.4 billion, the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) announced on Tuesday. The largest globally commingled horse racing pools created and powered by the HKJC, the World Pool started and finished the year at Flemington Racecourse in Australia. In total, there were 222 races--up from 154 races in 2022--in eight countries. World Pool was active in Germany, Saudi Arabia, Argentina and Australia for the first time and expanded its imprint with extra races from the UK and Ireland....
World Pool turnover on Saturday's G1 British Champions S. Day at Ascot totalled HK$202.7 million (£21.4 million), bringing the figure for all races in 2023 commingled during the 19 World Pool days in the UK in and Ireland to HK$4.7 billion (£475 million). G1 King George S. Day at Ascot in July saw the biggest jump in turnover, rising from HK$253 million to a new record of HK$287 million, an increase of over 13%, while 2000 Guineas Day in May and Royal Ascot's first and third days in June also...
The debut of World Pool on The Everest Day at Randwick in Sydney last weekend saw new local highs reached for World Pool with more than A$57 million wagered across nine races and five different bet types. For the first time ever on an Australian race meeting, totalisator Win, Place, Quinella, Trifecta and Duet wagers from the state of New South Wales were combined with bets placed in Victoria and Western Australia as well as the Australian Capital Territory through S-TAB. A total of HK$284.3 million (A$57.5 million) was held...
Sunday's G1 Longines Grand Premio Latinamericano at San Isidro will be an inaugural World Pool event and this will be the first time global betting will be engaged across three continents on a single weekend, the Hong Kong Jockey Club announced Thursday. The HKJC confirmed that while the local tote in Argentina will not commingle internationally, other partners' pools from the likes of Australia, France, North America and Hong Kong will be joined up by World Pool. The Latin American Group 1 contest will close a major weekend of World...
The 57th International Conference of Horseracing Authorities, focused this year on safeguarding equine welfare and exploring shifts in societal expectations and the sport's response around the world, took place on Oct. 2 at Saint-Cloud racetrack in Paris. Organised by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA), the day-long conference emphasized horse racing in a changing society, safeguarding equine welfare and explore shifts in societal expectations and the racing industry's response around the world. "Today we continued what has been a chief mission throughout the life of the Federation: equine welfare,"...
The upcoming Sun Chariot Day at Newmarket's Rowley Mile on Saturday, Oct. 7, will be worth a record £600,000, The Jockey Club announced on Thursday. The fixture will host four World Pool races for the first time, and the G1 Virgin Bet Sun Chariot S. will be worth £275,000. Another stakes, the G3 Tattersalls October Auction S., will carry a purse of £150,000, and both the 10-furlong British EBF Premier Fillies' H. and the 12-furlong British Stallion Studs EBF Premier Fillies' H. will each boast prize-money of £70,000. This quartet...
The Irish Champions Stakes Day at Leopardstown resulted in €27.7 million (HK$232.2m) bet into the World Pool via the seven World Pool bet types in operation last Saturday. Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) delivered in the highlight race of the day--the G1 Irish Champion S. This was the third year World Pool was in operation on the Irish card, and turnover was almost on par with 2022's figure of HK$234.8m (approx. €27.9m) and significantly up on 2021's figure of HK$192.8m (€22.9m). Michael Fitzsimons, Executive Director, Wagering Products, at the...
A trio of new race days have been approved for the 2023 World Pool calendar by the Hong Kong SAR government, the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) announced on Thursday. The HKJC applied for Newmarket's Sun Chariot S. Day on Oct. 7, Turnbull S. Day at Flemington that same day, and Cox Plate Day at Moonee Valley on Oct. 28 to be added to the schedule. A total of four races will be world pool events at Newmarket that day, while five races at Flemington have been added to the...
The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) will extend the distribution of prizemoney to sixth place in all races for the 2023-24 season, the organization announced Monday. Last season, prizemoney was paid to the first six finishers in all 12 of Hong Kong's Group 1 races, as well as the BMW Hong Kong Derby, while prizemoney was distributed to the top five in all other races. Under the revised schedule, 2% of the total purse will be allocated to the sixth-place finisher.