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Happy Valley Racecourse

Happy as a God

Happy Valley Racecourse is located in Wanchai on Hong Kong Island. It is one of the two major horse racing venues in Hong Kong, and the first racecourse built here. Every year, a variety of horse racing activities are held here, and the Hong Kong Racing Museum is also located on the second floor of the racecourse.

The Racecourse

Happy Valley Racecourse was the first racecourse built in Hong Kong, and has been hosting horse racing events since 1846.

In the early days of the racecourse, there was no Fixed Stand, and audiences were seated in thatched stables to watch the races. However, on February 26, 1918, a fire broke out in the stables during the annual Happy Valley Horse Race, killing nearly 600 people and making it the worst fire in Hong Kong’s history, and the racecourse began using concrete for audience seats.

In 1930 Happy Valley Racecourse was converted into a three-storey grandstand structure, then gradually transformed to the current grandstand. The current stands are divided into General Seats, Members Seats, Union Seats and Happy Seats, with a Restaurant and an ice shop to provide food and beverage services for race-goers.

Manywhere Trivia:
Horseracing in Hong Kong is more of gambling than sports.

In October 1996, the Hong Kong Racing Museum, located on the second floor of the Happy Valley Racecourse grandstand, was officially opened to the public. The museum introduces the history of horse racing in Hong Kong and exhibits the skeleton of the three-time champion “Silver Lining 禄怡”.

History of Hong Kong Racing

Horseracing in Hong Kong began in 1841. When the British arrived in Hong Kong, they began to clear the swamp and opened it up as a racecourse, which has been used ever since, and is now known as Happy Valley Racecourse. From 1973 onwards, Night Race in the evening were added.

In addition to Happy Valley Racecourse, Hong Kong also has the Sha Tin Racecourse 沙田马场 in the New Territories, which opened in 1978 and has successfully hosted a number of important international races. Every year, Hong Kong regularly hosts a number of horse racing events with big prize money, such as the “Hong Kong International Race” in December, the “Queen’s Cup” in April and the “Lunar New Year Race Day”. The event was an unprecedented gathering of people from all walks of life in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club

The Hong Kong Jockey Club was formally established on 4 November 1884 when a group of enthusiasts met at the City Hall in Central, Hong Kong. It was not until the late 1920s that the HKJC began to admit Chinese and female members, and in 1971 it was converted from an amateur to a professional racing organization.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club has always operated on a non-profit-making basis and attached great importance to social welfare. Since 1955, it has been allocating its annual surplus to charitable causes, and in recent years, it has extended its funding to areas such as youth education and the preservation of cultural relics, which has played an important role in promoting the development of Hong Kong.

As one of the largest horse racing organizations in the world, the Hong Kong Jockey Club provided equestrian venues and facilities for the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2008, which contributed greatly to the success of the Olympic Games, and was awarded the title of “Important Contributor to the Equestrian Events of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games” by the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games.