History & Contribution

CELEBRATING A MAGNIFICENT QUARTER-CENTURY

Going the distance	How all Hong Kongers profit from racing	Raising the bar ensures that our standards never slip
Like Father, Like Son…	Stylish win in a race against the clock	Sporting gesture gave park life to the people
The workers keeping the races on track

Going the distance

This aerial photo vividly illustrate how the construction of Sha Tin racecourse in 70s preceded the creation of Shatin New Town. In the picture, one of the temporary bridges over Taipo Road can be seen in the right foreground.The new racecourse begins to take shape ... as does the Shatin New Town.

Even as its flagship course reaches the grand old age of 25, the Hong Kong Jockey Club is not letting success go to its head - nor has it in the past, says executive director of racing Winfred Engelbrecht-Bresges.

"Some years ago the Club developed a vision to be a world leader in horseracing and betting entertainment," said the recognized international racing authority brought here in April 1998 to help implement that strategy.

"The goal was to upgrade the quality of Hong Kong racing across the board - horses, jockeys, trainers, administration and facilities. Prize-money was increased substantially, we encouraged the purchase of high quality young horses and introduced a highly successful horse replacement policy to introduce better blood.

"From season to season there has been steady improvement in the quality of the horses and in the upgrading of facilities. Until now it can be said that Hong Kong has truly taken its rightful place on the international racing stage.

"We now stage the three richest races in the world in their categories. And it was a particular pleasure for the Club when last season Hong Kong horses won three of the four International Races. That was the final benchmark that confirmed the international quality of our horses.

"In 1998 only four Hong Kong horses made it in international classifications, which indicates the leading horses in the world, but by 2002 the number had risen to 14. Horseracing went global years ago and Hong Kong has responded to this international challenge to upgrade our product and so take our place in the international scene, while retaining our share of the leisure industry 'pie'. Racing here faces stiff opposition. Every weekend huge crowds of Hong Kong people are drawn to Shenzhen and Macau; others are turning to soccer now betting has been legalized.

"In a way, our two racecourses serve as recruitment platforms for new customers, who, if they enjoy their first taste of racing, are likely to return and probably become regulars."

Shatin & STRC today

While regretting that he never had the chance to see some of Hong Kong's past greats such as Co-Tack and River Verdon, Engelbrecht-Bresges has "unforgettable memories" of Fairy King Prawn's desperate efforts to run down crack New Zealand miler Sunline in an epic Hong Kong Mile in 2000. As Fairy King Prawn unleashed an astonishing finish from near last on the turn, "the crowd in the grandstands started to roar with excitement, and as the horse surged down the outside, the roar swelled into the sort of thunder you hear when Concorde is taking off. Never have I experienced such an astonishing display of emotion on any racecourse." Fairy King Prawn failed by a couple of centimeters but his legacy as possibly the best horse ever to race in Hong Kong grew.

Executive Director of Racing Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges

Now that the quality of racing in Hong Kong has reached international levels, and Sha Tin Racecourse has firmly established itself as Hong Kong's flagship venue for horseracing, racing here has developed into a "pressure cooker" where its jockeys and trainers face some of the world's toughest opposition.

"They must work hard and be totally committed," says Engelbrecht-Bresges. "Britain's champion jockey Kieren Fallon in his first stint in Hong Kong could ride only one winner - that's how tough it is."

How all Hong Kongers profit from racing

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Chairman Ronald Arculli

Jockey Club chairman Ronald Arculli says its charitable works enrich lives

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Chairman Ronald Arculli believes that, given the chance to turn back the clock, many other racing jurisdictions would have followed the Club's formula of devoting the surplus from racing to benefit their respective communities.

"The genesis of the whole thing is the Club's commitment to racing - and now also soccer - with the surplus being channelled into deserving charities," he says. "This community role of funding worthy causes goes back more than 50 years when racing in Hong Kong was in its infancy. It is an incredible testament to the wisdom of the Board of those times and speaks volumes for the vision of the people involved that they were able to embrace and nurture these concepts."

"And today, despite all the ups and downs that the Club has experienced, racing remains our core business and we still work to the same broad principles - to return the profits to the community to make Hong Kong a better place to live, to work and to enjoy."

The Club's Charities Trust contributes mainly to four areas: sports, recreational and culture; education and training; medical and health; and community services.

The Board of Trustees comprises the Club's 12 Stewards, who decide whether the applications are approved or declined. Each request for funds is first processed by the management, and then, with management's recommendation, submitted to the Board for its consideration. A team of charities managers works closely with non-profit applicant agencies to ensure the trustees are presented with a full picture, but the final decision rests with the Board.

"I have to emphasize that we also maintain a close partnership with the government. We sound them out to get its views and try to understand if the proposed projects meet the needs of the community."

While agencies can, and do, send in their applications anytime during the year, the Trust does not only respond to requests. The 12 Trustees, from diverse backgrounds and professions, have their fingers on the pulse of the Hong Kong community and react quickly to crisis, such as the SARS emergency earlier this year.

"We saw the need for Hong Kong to return to the normal pace of life with a certain peace of mind," says Mr Arculli. "We therefore allocated a total of $125 million to schools and community care units throughout Hong Kong. They could spend as they thought fit to get their premises re-opened in a safe and clean environment."

While addressing the immediate needs, the Trust also saw to it that Hong Kong could be in a position to fight future infectious diseases outbreaks and donated $500 million toward the setting up of an Infectious Diseases Control Centre. The funding is essentially not for capital works, but for setting up the systems and procedures for surveillance and communication, to enable early tracking of infectious diseases, and for mechanisms to swiftly control any outbreak.

Another example was the Pat Sin Range fire in 1996, when the Trust upgraded the burns unit at the Prince of Wales Hospital at Shatin where the victims were treated. In addition, when the children finally returned to school, and because of the special clothing they had to wear owing to their extensive skin grafts, the Trust helped to air-condition classrooms to aid the children's return to normal schooling.

The work of the Trust does not end with handing over the donations. "We continue to maintain an interest in the projects the Trust has funded," says the Chairman. "All projects are monitored by management to ensure performance targets are met and funds are expended according to the approved budget."

"If there is any doubt in people's minds that the Jockey Club adds value to the lives of Hong Kong people, they only have to look around them. Hong Kong is definitely a better place because of the Club's major contributory role."

He notes that there are people who disagree with its role in gaming, specially now that football betting has been added to horseracing and lotteries, but points out firmly: "The Club does not determine Hong Kong's gambling policy. That is entirely for the Government and the Legislative Council. We simply implement its policy - and we like to think we do it in a responsible fashion."

As for the critics, he believes that "within a community we must accept some things for the greater good and sometimes agree to disagree."

Concerning the Club's role in football betting, he says that it made sense for the Club to express its interest in being the operator, and the Government decided to grant it the franchise.

"Pivotal in the decision of course was our background and expertise in racing and lotteries, and our network of off-course betting branches and telephone and technology-related betting facilities," he adds.

Looking to the future, the Jockey Club chief says frankly: "There is still room for improvement in our operations. As a progressive organisation we need to be open-minded and receptive to new ideas, and new approaches to old ideas."

Raising the bar ensures that our standards never slip

Chief executive Lawrence Wong takes the club's high ambitions to heart

Every dollar a community asset "I believe the betting dollar is a true community asset for Hong Kong. Through the Club's charity donations (averaging over $1 billion a year for the past 10 years) and also through our tax and duty contributions (11.7% of tax collected by the Inland Revenue or $10.9 billion in 2002/2003), the betting dollar contributes significantly to Hong Kong's welfare and development. I should also add that the tax contribution helps maintain Hong Kong's low tax rate."

Nobody at the Club is more dedicated or sincere about putting into practice the highly demanding strictures of its Mission Statement than Chief Executive Lawrence T. Wong.

"These aren't just words," he says. "Our Mission represents a promise by the Club, and my personal pledge, that we will 'provide total customer satisfaction through meeting the expectations of all our customers, and ultimately the people of Hong Kong, and thereby be one of Hong Kong's most respected organisations'.

"Yes, we've set the bar very high for ourselves, and keep putting it a bit higher year by year, but we must keep pace with the rising expectations of the racing and betting public, Club members, and the charities and good causes we help.

"Our Mission is self-perpetuating and inspires our staff to keep achieving at higher levels."

Mr Wong takes as his yardstick today's services and facilities in comparison with those provided five or 10 years ago.

"It's like a scoreboard, and in every category across the board of our activities - services, facilities and everything else - we must be able to put a tick under the column headed 'significant improvement'.

"When the occasional problem arises, it usually indicates some further improvement opportunity in training arisen from our continuous upgrade of services. Training plays a key role in customer satisfaction across every sphere of our activities. Train the man or woman properly, instill in him or her the wish to strive harder and reach higher, and the Club can then take pride in another achiever."

Mr Wong doesn't see the Club as simply a body that stages horse-racing. "We are part of the leisure and entertainment industry, with sports and gaming thrown in for good measure," he says. "Look out there and see all the competition we face - from movies, TV, home videos, live shows, the internet, golf, tennis, swimming, shopping, outside dining, boat trips and pleasure drives. That's why our product must be the best.

"Every new season racegoers arrive at the two courses to find that still more services and facilities have been upgraded for their benefit. At Sha Tin we now have the world's longest Diamond Vision screen. We are also enclosing the saddling enclosure to double the seating capacity to 4,800 - guarded against rain by a huge and exciting retractable roof. At Happy Valley we are giving the entrance a dignified new look in keeping with the new millennium.

"On top of all this, and with due modesty, the product - the actual racing - is such an upmarket and professionally staged experience that it has become the signature of Hong Kong attracting thousands of overseas visitors upfront.

"For instance, in some countries quite notable for their racing there is only one on-course screen for showing the action during a race. Amazingly, it's set up on wheels and is towed from track to track across the country. Compare that with our new screen at Sha Tin that's as long as a Boeing 747. Other countries have such antiquated tote equipment it takes 25 minutes to collect your winnings, and they don't show the odds of the runners before the race. Then there is one famous track with two winning posts …

"Compared with all this, our operation is just so slick and smooth - and all because we never stop trying to better our product."

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON…

Champion apprentice Way Leung Ming-wai and his mafoo father Leung Chung-pong

Twice Hong Kong's champion apprentice, Way Leung Ming-wai has a true Sha Tin pedigree. He grew up in the mafoos' quarters at Sha Tin where his father, Leung Ching-pong, is a mafoo.

The elder Mr Leung, whose own father was a horse-handler with the Club in the days of amateur racing, says: "Both my father and I have always worked with horses but we were only involved with the hard work of daily routine in the stables."

After Way entered his teens, he was accepted for the Apprentices' School and, after learning the rudiments, was finally on his way. Now he has nearly 40 career winners under his belt.

Way's first winner brought double joy: his father was the horse's mafoo. The winner was Wasabi at 67 to 1 and the victory photo takes pride of place in the family's flat, with Mr Leung proudly posing with his son and 'his' horse.

Trainer Geoff Lane and Philip Waldron, the Club's Race Riding Instructor, continually hone Leung's riding skills. Way describes Mr Lane as "patient, kind and understanding" and says he has never put any pressure on him since his indentures started four years ago.

Stylish win in a race against the clock

Michael Suen was District Officer of Shatin when the racecourse and New Town were abuilding.

The date October 7, 1978, is indelibly etched on Michael Suen's memory. Four years earlier he had become the first District Officer for Sha Tin - responsible for virtually everything in the whole district - and among his earliest instructions was an order that "the first race meeting will be held that day and you must ensure that nothing delays the project."

Mr Suen says: "As if I didn't have enough on my plate already … before we could form the land for the first estates of the New Town, Lek Yuen and Wo Che, we had to coax the inhabitants to leave Sha Tin Hui (the old village) and other settlements. Then to get the filling for the racecourse reclamation we had to clear still more people. Each clearance involved struggles with the village representatives that would have tested the patience of a saint. We had to negotiate, argue, cajole, plead, give in a little here and take a strong stand there. It seemed to be never-ending."

It was indeed a testing "apprenticeship" for today's Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands. Mr Suen recalls that the Club helped smooth the path to various resettlement offers by funding community-building projects that helped everybody affected.

Mr Suen recalls now-forgotten strands of Sha Tin's rich history. "Two thousand or more years ago the most succulent rice grown in the Empire came from the paddyfields of nearby Tai Wai. It was shipped about 2,000 miles [3,218km] north to the capital of the time, and was served at every meal eaten by the Emperors and the Imperial Family."

In March, 1911, a flat stretch along the coast of the Shing Mun River - and almost certainly alongside where the racecourse is now sited - was used as Hong Kong's first 'airstrip' by a Henri Farman biplane flown by a Belgian aviator named Paul Van den Born. (A replica of the plane has long hung from the ceiling of the Airport at Chek Lap Kok.)

Mr Suen also has fond memories too of Sha Tin when he was a schoolboy and later a student at University of Hong Kong. "Sha Tin was a popular hiking and picnic spot," he says. "We kids thought it was great fun to hike there over Amah Rock. No bottled water and fast food in those days - we arrived thirsty and hungry. After we'd had our fill we'd hire bicycles and ride about the village and nearby areas. There were thousands of bikes and it was a great way to spend the day - though I admit that later I found it a lot easier to catch the train."

Mr Suen spent almost four years as Sha Tin District Officer. "When I arrived it was a sleepy old village. At first I didn't even have an office there - I had a temporary one at Taipo, which was very inconvenient. But after hundreds of meetings - repeat hundreds - we sorted out the clearance problems, and were able to get on with the racecourse and the new town.

"As a result, Sha Tin New Town is today home to three-quarters of a million people, if you include Ma On Shan - and also has one of the most magnificent racecourses in Asia, if not the world.

"On top of all that, the new town boasts schools, clinics, swimming pools and many other facilities all made possible by the Club and its dedication to financing community projects."

Asked if he feels a sense of accomplishment for his role in both projects, Mr Suen says, "There is one thing I do take some pride in. Thinking back to my youth, I was insistent that at the planning stage we include bicycle paths for the residents, specially children. Sha Tin had been famous for cycling and I wanted to retain this link with its past. The Treasury thought it was a terrible waste of land, then it jibbed again at the cost. But I finally got my point across, and so Sha Tin is the only new town with cycling paths."

Naturally Mr Suen was among the official guests at the official opening of the racecourse and laughs as he recalls how Money No Object won the first race … "Simply couldn't have been better named!"

He became friends with then Club Chairman Sir Oswald Cheung, who encouraged him to become a member. He is still a member, and on his occasional visits to Sha Tin Racecourse looks down the sward of green that is the straight and finds it "hard to believe that was where people used to pick clams from the mud - and Hong Kong's first flight took place."

Sporting gesture gave park life to the people

Sir David Akers-Jones was Secretary for the New Territories and oversaw the creation of Shatin New Town and its accompanying racecourse.

Sir David Akers-Jones well remembers the official "tug-of-war" over the use of the infield at Sha Tin Racecourse. The long-time Secretary for the New Territories recalls: "One side wanted to use it for two full-size soccer pitches and the other for a park with shrubs, plants, ornamental walks, a lake with birds and so on. I firmly favoured the park option and for the past quarter of a century my heart has been gladdened by the enormous enjoyment Penfold Park has given so many visitors.

"I thought it was wrong to use all this wonderful space for just two soccer pitches. I strongly believed that people moving to Sha Tin New Town from the overcrowded urban districts and squatter areas deserved something better.

"The park is used by throngs of people whenever the weather's fine, especially at weekends and on holidays … people taking a stroll, nature-lovers observing the growth of the various plants, family groups enjoying an outing, amateur photographers, and so on.

"However, the Club didn't allow the young people of Sha Tin to go wanting when it came to sports facilities and training. It built a world-class Sports Centre adjoining the racecourse that has provided many kinds of healthy active sports to succeeding generations."

The opening of the new racecourse also brought many New Territories people into racing, Sir David recalls. "Previously, when racing was confined to Happy Valley, it was a long way for New Territories people to travel there and back, but the new course changed all that. Suddenly there was this magnificent racecourse right in the middle of the New Territories.

"The Heung Yee Kuk was allocated a box and various groups of New Territories identities clubbed together to form syndicates and race their own horses. It brought fresh blood into the Club, and it was only right that after such a long time so many New Territories people could be welcomed to the Club."

A club member "since I can remember", Sir David found that his many duties as Acting Governor often included a visit to Sha Tin racecourse to present an important trophy. "It's always nice to congratulate a winner," he says. Today he still greatly enjoys a day or night at the races when he can join a party of friends.

While Sir David was "steward" over the 10-year housing programme and watching closely over the development of Sha Tin and the other new towns, he was also a keen observer of the growth of the new racecourse.

"The Club was so very lucky to have a man like John Halliday as engineer in charge of the project. He knew his job thoroughly and was absolutely unflappable. He just got on with things, coolly surmounting one problem after another.

"Since the new towns were a pet project of the Governor, Sir Murray Maclehose, he too was a constant visitor to Shatin. While I was driving around with him there once, the subject of a city hall for Sha Tin arose. I had us driven to a likely site and he agreed, 'Yes, that's the place for it'. But we needed funds to build it so who else to turn to but the Jockey Club? Of course they gladly underwrote the whole project - as they did so many worthwhile civic projects throughout Shatin and the other new towns.

"Twenty-five years ago Sha Tin's entertainment comprised lion dances and Chinese opera. I had the pleasure of officiating at the opening of its City Hall, and in the many years since its auditorium has been graced by countless overseas groups and performers, providing one cultural treat after another. All this - and a magnificent racecourse - in just a few years. Proof yet again that Hong Kong can do it."

The Workers Keeping The Races on Track

Kam Yuen Yee - Stables Assistant On racedays, Yuen Yee gets urine samples from her horses to test for prohibited substances very early in the morning. It's a very important jobthat helps maintaining the integrity of HK racing. The work requires much patience and a lot of training. "I'll talk to them, pat them or even whistle." "When a new horse gets into our stable, the first thing I do is to teach it to pee."	Lo Shun Tai - Track Attendant Shun Tai and her colleagues rush in after each race to put back the divots kicked up by the horses. "Simple: Big lumps of earth and grass to fill the big holes, and small lumps for the small ones. The surface of the track must be as flat as possible. If not, the horses can lose their balance." Not an easy job, though. "When it rains, I get all wet. When it's sunny, I also get drenched. I can go through two or three towels easily."
Cheng Kwok Wah - Recall Flagman Kwok Wah holds the red and white chequered flag 200 metres in front of the starting gate right in the middle of the track. He waves his flag to signal the jockeys to pull their mounts if a race is cancelled after its starts. "Is it dangerous? No, I never think of it that way. "	Bruno Burg - Executive Chef Bruno's team prepares food for over 20,000 customers at each race meeting. "It's all in the timing." Something of an understatement from the man who has the unenviable job of preparing all the menus and figuring out the quantities of food to order. After all, it is an operation with 320 chefs handling over 2,000 kilos of fresh food, all under the roof of one massive 11,000 square foot kitchen.
Mabel Wan - Terminal Operator, Telebet Centre "Every race is like a war. A minute or two before the start of each race, the phone calls come flooding in! Many customers speak very fast, blurting out their account numbers, passwords, race numbers and bets. The challenge for me is to take down everything correctly."	Liu Chi Lok - Camera Operator Chi Lok is one of more than twenty video cameramen taking shots for the racing TV programme. His camera often faces right into the sun. "It's so bright sometimes I could hardly see anything. So I wear a cap and the viewfinder wears a hood." "That's not the worst. The hardest thing about this job is that the races are so tightly scheduled…and the toilets are so far away."