Wednesday night racing in a floodlit bowl surrounded by tower blocks, with a beer tent and the largest betting turnover in the world.
Horse racing began at Happy Valley in 1846, on reclaimed swampland chosen because it was one of the few flat areas on Hong Kong Island — and because it was malarial and therefore not wanted for anything else.
It is now a floodlit track in a bowl surrounded on all sides by residential towers, and it is one of the more surreal sporting settings anywhere.
The scale of the betting
The Hong Kong Jockey Club holds a legal monopoly on betting in the territory, and the turnover is extraordinary — well over HK$100 billion a season, among the highest of any racing jurisdiction in the world.
The Club is also the largest single taxpayer in Hong Kong and one of the largest charitable donors in the world, funding hospitals, universities, parks and — among other things — Tai Kwun and the Palace Museum.
Racing here is not a fringe activity. It is a substantial part of the public finances.
Wednesday night
The season runs roughly September to July, with meetings at Happy Valley on most Wednesday evenings and at the larger Sha Tin course at weekends.
Happy Valley on a Wednesday is the one to attend. Eight races from about 7pm to 11pm, floodlit, with the crowd packed along the rail and the towers lit behind.
Public enclosure entry costs a nominal sum. Visitors mostly congregate in the Beer Garden, which has food stalls, a bar and a view of the finishing straight, and which is loud and cheerful and entirely unpretentious.
There is a tourist badge available to visitors who have been in Hong Kong less than 21 days, giving access to the members’ enclosure — bring your passport.
Betting, if you want to
Terminals and staffed windows are everywhere. Minimum stakes are small. The basics:
Win — first place. Place — top two or three depending on field size. Quinella — first two in any order. Tierce and Trio for three.
Race cards are printed in English and Chinese with form. Nobody will mind if you have no idea what you are doing.
Practicalities
The tram to Happy Valley terminus is the pleasant way to arrive — Hong Kong’s double-decker trams have run on the island since 1904 and cost almost nothing.
Causeway Bay MTR is a fifteen-minute walk.
Check the fixture list before planning an evening around it; there are gaps, and the season pauses in summer.
Dress is casual in the public enclosure and smarter in the members’ areas.
Sha Tin
The larger course in the New Territories, with weekend meetings and the major international races in December. Reached by MTR to Racecourse station, which opens on race days only.
