THE NUMBERS ARE IN AND IT'S A BIG WIN FOR THE HKJC

By Darren Winningham | Monday, May 1, 2023

The 2023 FWD Champions was a massive success for the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

The innovation of the Club never continues to amaze me.

In unprecedented scenes at Sha Tin racecourse thousands of fans, predominantly late teens to mid twenty females queued for hours at every entry point available to the Sha Tin racecourse to come and see their local rock hero Anson Lo and Kelly Chen in a rock concert staged in the main parade ring one hour prior to the first race. The noise was deafening as Anson Lo took to the stage to perform two of his songs – ironically one of them titled “Money”.

After the concert was over the thousands of fans dispersed throughout the venue until Anson Lo made another appearance in the presentation of the FWD Champions Mile (Group 1) – again he was met with screams and cheers from the loyal fans.

The massive crowd of 54,007 attended the course for FWD Champions Day – I think that this would be the largest crowd in the past decade for this meeting. The atmosphere was generated by the large number of first-time race goers who came to see the concert on the track.

A turnover of HK$1,576 million was a colossal result for the HKJC.

“It was a day that showed Hong Kong racing has fully come back to the world stage with the atmosphere and the performances of these champion horses, this is really a global event and one which has improved the reputation of Hong Kong racing, especially after COVID,” said the Hong Kong Jockey Club CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges.

“Today was a fantastic day of racing, the atmosphere was electrifying, and the fans definitely supported us.”

The Hong Kong horses dominated taking out the three Group 1 races ... Lucky Sweynesse, Golden Sixty and Romantic Warrior. If you are a punter, you would not have got rich by backing the heavily supported favourites, however, if you like to watch quality horses win races – you would have been pleased to be in attendance and witness these three champions of the turf dominate each of their respective races.

Finally, most of the HK$65 million remained in the Hong Kong owner’s pockets. A further HK$5 million was issued as a bonus when Lucky Sweynesse won Hong Kong’s three-race Speed Series.

I think that in summing up the uniting of the FWD and the HKJC powerhouses in their respective businesses is a wonderful commercial relationship that transpires to an amazing event each April that must be experienced.

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