HKJC

Group 1 winners Regional (GB) (Territories {Ire}) and Dubai Honour (Ire) (Pride Of Dubai {Aus}) head 12 European entries for the FWD Champions Day at Sha Tin on April 28. A strong international challenge also includes 25 potential runners from Japan, eight from Australia and three from the UAE, while there are 41 locally-trained entries. Regional, now six, gave his trainer Ed Bethell a first Group 1 success in last year's Haydock Sprint Cup and he has been entered for the G1 Chairman's Sprint Prize, with prize-money totalling approximately £2.2...

Australian Turf Club (ATC) Head Of Racing and Wagering James Ross will shortly take up a leading role with the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) after eight years at the ATC. He announced his resignation on Thursday and will finish his tenure with the ATC after this year's Autumn carnival. "James has been instrumental in ATC remaining at the forefront of racing in Australia," CEO Matt Galanos told Racing NSW. "He has ensured ATC has continued to forge a reputation as an industry leader through the delivery of a world-class...

A five-year agreement aimed at strengthening and growing pool betting in the UK was signed by Ascot Racecourse and the Tote on Thursday. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2024, the agreement ensures all pool bets placed on racing from Ascot Racecourse will continue to support liquidity in the UK pool which has been operated by the UK Tote Group since October 2019. The "Bet with Ascot" brand is included under this umbrella of bets as long as the bets are placed on the Tote website, through bookmakers and third-party partners on...

Australia's G1 Blue Diamond S. in February will be part of the Hong Kong Jockey Club's World Pool for the first time in 2024, the HKJC announced on Wednesday. Held at Caulfield, the Blue Diamond on Feb. 24 will become the sixth World Pool event in Australia, after the Turnbull S. Day, The Everest Day, Caulfield Cup Day, Cox Plate Day and Victoria Derby Day. A trio of Australian races filled out the top five World Pool turnover races of 2023, with the HK$60 million (approx. £6 million) staked on...

David Eustace, who started his training career in partnership with Ciaron Maher in Australia, is set to move to Hong Kong where he will train under a solo licence.  In a statement released on Thursday, Eustace said, "I am delighted to announce that I will be joining the Hong Kong Jockey Club for the 2024/25 season. I look forward to working with CMR [Ciaron Maher Racing] until the end of January, after which my attention will turn to Hong Kong and the season approaching." The 32-year-old became co-trainer with Maher...

Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges has been at the helm of the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) since 2007, presiding over a significant expansion of the Asian racing scene. Emmanuel Roussel received an update from the CEO during last weekend's Hong Kong International meeting, with topics including the development of racing at Conghua on the Chinese mainland, and the potential for the HKJC to establish breeding bases in Europe and Australia to boost its supply of Thoroughbreds. Emmanuel Roussel: The international week is always a great event, so close to the festive season....

The 2023 Longines Hong Kong International Races have been hailed by Hong Kong Jockey Club chief executive officer Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges as "one of the best" that the Hong Kong Jockey Club has hosted since he started with the club 25 years ago. A commingling turnover record was set for the 10-race Sha Tin meeting of HK$429.6 million (£43,846,126/€51,090,128/$55,018,239), with a crowd of 65,252 on hand at Sha Tin. That was the largest attendance number recorded at the HKIR since 2019. In addition, turnover at the meeting was HK$1.697 billion (£173,200,365/€201,815,520/$217,332,291)....

The dramatic victory of the world's highest rated racehorse Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) in the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic in March has been voted the World Pool Moment of the Year. It is the second year of the award, which was given to G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe heroine Alpinista (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and her groom Annabel Willis in 2022. The groom of near black superstar, Tomohiro Kusunoki, is the recipient of a VIP trip to the 2024 Hong Kong Derby or the 2024 Champions Day along with...

The World Pool season has ended with a 24% year-on-year turnover increase to HK$7.4 billion, the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) announced on Tuesday. The largest globally commingled horse racing pools created and powered by the HKJC, the World Pool started and finished the year at Flemington Racecourse in Australia. In total, there were 222 races--up from 154 races in 2022--in eight countries. World Pool was active in Germany, Saudi Arabia, Argentina and Australia for the first time and expanded its imprint with extra races from the UK and Ireland....

Sunday's G1 Longines Grand Premio Latinamericano at San Isidro will be an inaugural World Pool event and this will be the first time global betting will be engaged across three continents on a single weekend, the Hong Kong Jockey Club announced Thursday. The HKJC confirmed that while the local tote in Argentina will not commingle internationally, other partners' pools from the likes of Australia, France, North America and Hong Kong will be joined up by World Pool. The Latin American Group 1 contest will close a major weekend of World...

The upcoming Sun Chariot Day at Newmarket's Rowley Mile on Saturday, Oct. 7, will be worth a record £600,000, The Jockey Club announced on Thursday. The fixture will host four World Pool races for the first time, and the G1 Virgin Bet Sun Chariot S. will be worth £275,000. Another stakes, the G3 Tattersalls October Auction S., will carry a purse of £150,000, and both the 10-furlong British EBF Premier Fillies' H. and the 12-furlong British Stallion Studs EBF Premier Fillies' H. will each boast prize-money of £70,000. This quartet...

The Irish Champions Stakes Day at Leopardstown resulted in  €27.7 million (HK$232.2m) bet into the World Pool via the seven World Pool bet types in operation last Saturday. Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) delivered in the highlight race of the day--the G1 Irish Champion S. This was the third year World Pool was in operation on the Irish card, and turnover was almost on par with 2022's figure of HK$234.8m (approx. €27.9m) and significantly up on 2021's figure of HK$192.8m (€22.9m). Michael Fitzsimons, Executive Director, Wagering Products, at the...