By Emily Chan
The Hong Kong Jockey Club's recently opened training facility in mainland China displays all the aspects of an impressive top-of-the-class racecourse that has left nothing to chance.
After a three-hour ride by car from Hong Kong, crossing the Shenzhen-Hong Kong border and passing by the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport along the way, we finally arrived at the Conghua Training Centre, the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC)'s latest investment in Guangdong Province in Southern China.
The lavish Conghua Training Centre is one of the most expensive investments the HKJC has undertaken since building Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong 40 years ago. The HK$3.7 billion training centre not only mimics Sha Tin, minus the grandstand, but the facilities it offers are way above and beyond what Hong Kong currently has – four racetracks together with an 1100-metre uphill gallop; 20 spelling paddocks; a world-class veterinary hospital equipped with an X-ray unit, an exam room, and operating suites; and a rehabilitation unit that includes salt-water spas and an aqua treadmill to treat injured horses. Louis Romanet, Chairman of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities, described the Conghua site as “truly exceptional” while Racing Australia Chief Executive Officer Barry O'Farrell summed it up as “world class and revolutionary.”
“In the early stages, there was a bit of reluctance among owners and trainers about training horses at Conghua, primarily because of the distance from Hong Kong coupled with a fear of the unknown,” said Bill Nader, director of racing business and operations of the Hong Kong Jockey Club. “But the early results have been so encouraging that our important stakeholders not only accept Conghua as a world-class training centre, they now embrace it.”
The site was built with the vision to take Hong Kong racing to the next level and to create a more spacious and relaxed training environment for Hong Kong racehorses, while still maintaining the longstanding principle that Sha Tin is the home base. Hong Kong is one of the world's most densely populated areas and the city's skyrocketing property prices mean that there is literally no place in Hong Kong to allow the Club to build additional training facilities. After searching for suitable land for 20 years without success, the Hong Kong Jockey Club finally solved the issue with the site in Conghua. There are currently nine trainers in Hong Kong who train horses out of both Conghua and Hong Kong, and horses are shipped to Sha Tin two days before running.
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