414 | Recreation, Sport and the Arts
Hong Kong athletes also achieved excellent results at the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Greece, the 2011 SOEA Regional Basketball Competition in China and the SOM 19th Inter-Cities Invitation Athletic Meet in Macao. A total of 236 medals, comprising 112 gold, 69 silver and 55 bronze were won by the intellectually disabled athletes during the year.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club
Horse racing is one of Hong Kong's most popular sports, attracting some two million local residents and visitors a year to the city's two racecourses at Sha Tin in the New Territories and Happy Valley on Hong Kong Island. On major race days, attendance is sometimes as high as 90 000. Many meetings are broadcast live to overseas countries and regions including Macao, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club is one of the largest racing organisations and football betting operators in the world. It is Hong Kong's only authorised operator of horse racing and regulated football betting. It also operates the Mark Six lottery. It works closely with the Government to meet public demand for gambling and to combat illegal betting, and plays a leading role in promoting responsible gambling behaviour.
In 2011, the club became the first organisation in Asia to receive the Level 4 accreditation, the highest recognition accorded by the Responsible Gambling Framework of the World Lottery Organisation. The club is also the major contributor to the Ping Wo Fund, established by the Government to address problem gambling issues and to provide counselling and remedial services.
Since the implementation of betting duty reforms and the introduction of more local race days and overseas simulcasts, the club has regained some of the revenue lost to illegal and offshore bookmakers, but illegal bookmaking remains a concern.
Talks are taking place on the question of introducing commingled overseas bets on Hong Kong races and on lowering betting duties to maintain the club's competitiveness in the face of the growing number of gambling establishments in the region.
The international races held at the Sha Tin Racecourse each December have become widely recognised as the 'Turf World Championships', with four International Group One events being staged on a single day for a total purse of $68 million. The 2011 International Races attracted 26 top thoroughbreds from eight countries.
Despite competing with the world's best horses, Hong Kong-trained runners captured three of the four titles. Hong Kong-trained, California Memory's victory in the prestigious Hong Kong Cup was especially noteworthy as both its jockey, 21-year-old Matthew Chadwick and its trainer, Tony Cruz, are Hong Kong-bred.
In the World Thoroughbred Rankings for 2011, Hong Kong had a record 21 horses listed among the world's best. This ranks it sixth among the countries and