Inside Hong Kong racing

Hong Kong is one of the world’s great financial centres and a rare fusion of western and eastern influences and any Australian punter taking in a meeting at Sha Tin or Happy Valley will soon notice how differently things are done here.

The Hong Kong racing industry has Australian horses, jockeys, trainers and journalists featuring very prominently, however the setup of the industry is very different to what we are used to. They have only two racetracks and two meetings per week, a very limited pool of horses and participants, no bookmakers, a low tote takeout and win betting is secondary to exotics.

Getting to Sha Tin is very straightforward. The train system is clean, efficient and takes you right to the course. Entrance to the course and members enclosure is free if you are a tourist with a passport and they even provide a beginner’s bag packed full of information on how to place your bets and get around the course.

Two huge grandstands hold up to 85,000 people and
there are plenty of dining, bar and lounge options. The parade ring has it’s own grandstand and large video screen and most punters there never see a race live. They spend the whole day monitoring the horses in the yard and then use the HKJC’s free wifi and PDA betting service to place their bets.

There are plenty of betting options and one of the favourites with the gambling mad local population is the triple trio where you need to select the first 3 placegetters (in any order) in 3 selected races. It was also interesting to see how popular quinella betting is.

In fact for most races if you combine the total amount of money invested in the win and place pools, that amount is about the same as the quinella pool itself.
Total turnover for the Champions Mile and QE11 Cup day was more than HK$1 billion, the equivalent of AUD $150 million.

‘Doing the form’ is quite different here. For example there is a huge emphasis on trackwork which is televised daily and then reported and dissected in great depth. Another difference is the horse’s body weight (today and also it’s weight when it last won) is also listed. And there is no such thing as a racebook.

Everyone at the course clutches at the formguide ripped out of the newspaper and these are invariably covered in all kinds of hand-written notes. The newspaper formguide lists the tipsters profit and loss for the season across each of their recommended bet types – straight bets, best bets, quinellas and trios.

This accountability is to be highly commended and I would love to see the same for our Australian newspaper, radio and TV pundits. Interestingly all 7 tipsters in the South China Morning Post have recorded a profit on their straight win bets and best bets, but losses on their recommended exotics.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club is the largest taxpayer and charity donor in Hong Kong. Their tote takeout of approximately 10 cents in the dollar is a little more than half of the takeout rate of our TAB’s. They also provide excellent information on their website including videos of race replays, trackwork and trials.

The HKJC operate under the principle of the more punters know, the more they will bet and this has proven to be a very successful policy. The raceday atmosphere at Sha Tin was very enjoyable and the crowd was probably best described as enthusiastic rather than raucous. In contrast to our big carnival days, alcohol plays very little part in the day’s festivities and public drunkenness is almost unheard of.

From an industry perspective, the future of Australian racing has generated fierce debate recently and we could do worse than learn from some of the best features of Hong Kong racing.On a personal level, every serious punter’s ‘bucket list’ should include a visit to the Sha Tin racetrack and taking in the Champions Mile and QE11 Cup action was an unforgettable experience.

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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC '-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN' 'http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd'><html><head><title>Articles Back Link | Inside Hong Kong racing</title></head><body><h3>Inside Hong Kong racing</h3><br><br> By: David Duffield<br><br><p><p>Hong Kong is one of the world’s great financial centres and a rare fusion of western and eastern influences and any Australian punter taking in a meeting at Sha Tin or Happy Valley will soon notice how differently things are done here.</P><p>The Hong Kong racing industry has Australian horses, jockeys, trainers and journalists featuring very prominently, however the setup of the industry is very different to what we are used to. They have only two racetracks and two meetings per week, a very limited pool of horses and participants, no bookmakers, a low tote takeout and win betting is secondary to exotics.</P><p>Getting to Sha Tin is very straightforward. The train system is clean, efficient and takes you right to the course. Entrance to the course and members enclosure is free if you are a tourist with a passport and they even provide a beginner’s bag packed full of information on how to place your bets and get around the course.</P><p>Two huge grandstands hold up to 85,000 people and<br>there are plenty of dining, bar and lounge options. The parade ring has it’s own grandstand and large video screen and most punters there never see a race live. They spend the whole day monitoring the horses in the yard and then use the HKJC’s free wifi and PDA betting service to place their bets.</P><p>There are plenty of betting options and one of the favourites with the gambling mad local population is the triple trio where you need to select the first 3 placegetters (in any order) in 3 selected races. It was also interesting to see how popular quinella betting is.</P><p>In fact for most races if you combine the total amount of money invested in the win and place pools, that amount is about the same as the quinella pool itself.<br>Total turnover for the Champions Mile and QE11 Cup day was more than HK$1 billion, the equivalent of AUD $150 million.</P><p>‘Doing the form’ is quite different here. For example there is a huge emphasis on trackwork which is televised daily and then reported and dissected in great depth. Another difference is the horse’s body weight (today and also it’s weight when it last won) is also listed. And there is no such thing as a racebook.</P><p>Everyone at the course clutches at the formguide ripped out of the newspaper and these are invariably covered in all kinds of hand-written notes. The newspaper formguide lists the tipsters profit and loss for the season across each of their recommended bet types – straight bets, best bets, quinellas and trios.</P><p>This accountability is to be highly commended and I would love to see the same for our Australian newspaper, radio and TV pundits. Interestingly all 7 tipsters in the South China Morning Post have recorded a profit on their straight win bets and best bets, but losses on their recommended exotics.</P><p>The Hong Kong Jockey Club is the largest taxpayer and charity donor in Hong Kong. Their tote takeout of approximately 10 cents in the dollar is a little more than half of the takeout rate of our TAB’s. They also provide excellent information on their website including videos of race replays, trackwork and trials.</P><p>The HKJC operate under the principle of the more punters know, the more they will bet and this has proven to be a very successful policy. The raceday atmosphere at Sha Tin was very enjoyable and the crowd was probably best described as enthusiastic rather than raucous. In contrast to our big carnival days, alcohol plays very little part in the day’s festivities and public drunkenness is almost unheard of.</P><p>From an industry perspective, the future of Australian racing has generated fierce debate recently and we could do worse than learn from some of the best features of Hong Kong racing.On a personal level, every serious punter’s ‘bucket list’ should include a visit to the Sha Tin racetrack and taking in the Champions Mile and QE11 Cup action was an unforgettable experience.<br></P></p> <br><br> <b>Author Resource:-></b>  <br><br><b>Article From</b> <a href='http://www.articlesbacklink.com/'>Articles Back Link</a><br></body></html>