Year of the Dragon off to a strong start as fans flock to Lunar New Year races
The Year of the Dragon got off to a strong start at Sha Tin on Monday, with the biggest post-pandemic crowd streaming through the gates and punters wagering HK$1.74 billion.
Always one of Hong Kong’s most popular days of racing, the Lunar New Year meeting saw 81,049 fans converge on Sha Tin and another 6,681 head to Happy Valley.
“We have over 80,000 people on course and over 6,000 on course in Happy Valley – which is better than last year,” said Jockey Club chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges.
“The atmosphere on course was fantastic. It was very important that we celebrate Chinese New Year with a big bang.”
“With the sporting event and the atmosphere that we wanted to create, I’m extremely satisfied.”
Turnover has been down through the 2023-24 season and again betting figures took a hit, down 14.2 per cent on last year.
There was plenty to get excited about on the track, however, with the John Size-trained Red Lion snaring the Class One Chinese New Year Cup (1,400m) under Zac Purton.
The afternoon’s first race – the one everyone wants to win to bring good fortune – was taken out by the front-running Happy Tango under Angus Chung Yik-lai for trainer Me Tsui Yu-sak.
