All 12 Hong Kong Group 1 contests during the 2024/2025 season will be part of World Pool, the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) announced on Thursday.
This is the first time races in Hong Kong have been incorporated into the World Pool schedule. Hong Kong will become the ninth jurisdiction to host World Pool races, joining the UK, Ireland, Germany, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Australia and Argentina. Over 25 jurisdictions and 70 partners bet into both the Hong Kong pools and World Pool and, in season 2024/25, 84 of the IFHA Top 100 Group 1 races will be part of World Pool. The 12 new World Pool races are as follows:
- 8: G1 Longines Hong Kong Cup, G1 Longines Hong Kong Mile, G1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint, G1 Longines Hong Kong Vase
- 19: G1 Steward's Cup, G1 Centenary Sprint Cup
- 23: G1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup, G1 Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup
- 27: G1 FWD QEII Cup, G1 FWD Champions Mile, G1 Chairman's Sprint Prize
- May 25: G1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup.
Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, chief executive officer at the HKJC, said, “World Pool has provided many benefits to the global horse racing industry including deep and liquid parimutuel markets, increased value opportunities, greater certainty of odds and enhanced returns. World Pool is also a key weapon in the fight against illegal gambling operators and has delivered increased returns to the sport allowing authorities to invest into prizemoney and the broader sustainability of horse racing.
“Additionally, World Pool drives promotion of our sport with a heavy focus on the best international events, horses, jockeys and trainers, drawing predominantly from the IFHA's Longines Top 100 Group 1 races. As such, it is timely to add Hong Kong's best races to the World Pool brand commencing with the four Group 1 races on HKIR Day. Hong Kong has only 0.7% of the global total of racehorses in training, yet in 2023 had 14 horses featured in the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings and 12 races in the IFHA Longines Top 100 Group 1 races.
“We are proud of the HKJC's world-class racing and the development of World Pool and look forward to the two of them sitting side by side in the future.”
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