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SCMP Editorial
Editorial
SCMP Editorial

Record post-Covid horse race attendance kicks off an auspicious year

The ‘fantastic’ atmosphere at the ‘Year of the Horse’ race meeting captured the spirit of an agile city undergoing a sound recovery

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The Sha Tin Racecourse draws a big crowd on the third day of the Lunar New Year on February 19. Photo: Eugene Lee
SCMP Editorial
Editorials represent the views of the South China Morning Post on the issues of the day.
If cautious optimism is the prevailing sentiment in a troubled world, the city could not have wished for a more auspicious launch to the Year of the Horse than the race meeting at Sha Tin on the third day of the Lunar New Year. Amid a crowd of 92,612, the biggest since the Covid-19 pandemic, it was Hong Kong in exuberant and resilient form. Punters pressed against the rails in balmy weather and an estimated 20,395 mainland visitors helped pack the stands.

Thoroughbreds charging down the straight as the crowd roared completed a symbolic spectacle of energy and optimism, in keeping with the traditional embodiment in the horse of boldness, progress and endurance. A colourful festive air including live performances added to what Hong Kong Jockey Club chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges described as a “fantastic” atmosphere.

Just as the Lunar New Year meeting is no ordinary race day, the Jockey Club is more than a monopoly horse-race betting operator. As a non-profit, it is the city’s largest taxpayer and unrivalled benefactor, distributing billions to charitable and community causes, as well as promoting equestrian sports. Horse racing is also a unique lifestyle under “one country, two systems”, as promised by then paramount leader Deng Xiaoping during the 1980s – a factor in its attraction to mainlanders and in the Jockey Club’s adoption of the Year of the Horse as a special tourist attraction theme.

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