Longines HKIR Wraps With Record Turnover

HKJC CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges | Hong Kong Jockey Club

Japanese horses saluted in three of the four Group 1s during Sunday's Longines Hong Kong International Races, and turnover was HK$1.71 billion, a record for the meeting, the Hong Kong Jockey Club reported. Attendance at Sha Tin was 27,965, well down on the usual numbers, as there was a major protest taking place during the same time slot on Hong Kong Island.

“We are more than delighted about the turnover,” said Hong Kong Jockey Club Chief Executive Officer Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges. “The interesting part is that the local turnover, even though we had to close down some of our Off-Course Betting Branches, was above last year at HK$1.376 billion. The major growth seen today came from commingling turnover, which has been amazing. This shows that our strategy of globalistion, of making Hong Kong racing–with our integrity, with all the excitement, with the deep liquidity in our pool–available to the world, is working.

“The commingling turnover was HK$334 million, which is up by nearly 30% from HK$258 million last year. We deliberately were not pushing our attendance. We wanted to be absolutely sure that everybody who came to the races would be able to go home safely because we knew there was a big demonstration on the island and we didn't want to take a risk. For us to be able to stage this international event when all other major sporting events here have been cancelled, we have demonstrated that we manage what we do extremely professionally, with a real risk assessment.

“Thanks firstly to our outstanding people here in Hong Kong and second of all the international connections who have put their trust in us and have brought some of the best horses in the world to compete and put on a race meeting of real excellence. I thank the media for trusting us and coming here, and our colleagues and the media here in Hong Kong who have covered the race meeting exceptionally well.”

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