MEET AT
THE
Gloucester Hotel
AFTER
THE RACES
IT PLEASES BOTH WINNER AND LOSER
"I can tell
WHITE
HORSE blindfold
it's equal to a fine liqueur" Sole Agents for South China: · JARDINE MATHESON AND COMPANY. LTD.
The Advent Of The
China Pony
Introduction Marks New Milestone In Jockey Club Progress
By "Paul Gregory"
With the adoption of such mounts. racing becaune more po- pular than ever. One may real- ise that as long as imported horses were raced on the local turf, the very fact that they were costly with the "HE wide T
interest in preceptive force, the moral value and prone to suffer
of which cannot be minimised. stifling heat and other ills, pre- horse-racing that has Such a lofty conception
thecluded the erection of new rac- obligations of the riders to the ing-stables, but with the intro- always characterised any betting public, as well
the duction of these sturdy Mongolian British Colony is amply splendid sporting spirit in which ponies, which could be procured shown in the development racing has always been conducted in vast numbers at comparatively in the Colony, are the principles low cost, racing became a sport in slender of Hong
Kong Jockey on which such an enviable record which even those with Club.
has been built.
purses might endulge.
From little band of few Few Occasions
A
dozen racing enthusiasts, who in
of
as
1845 launched the first meeting For Drastic Action
as an experiment, the Club has grown into a flourishing organisa-
Owner riders began to increase and public interest rapidly grew as the race-meetings became larger and more frequent. Finally. after the amalgamation of the Gymkhana Club with the Jockey agreement" Club, extra meetings were arrang- tion with a membership of over THIS "gentlemen's
has been so well observed thated until racing has become almost 1,500 enger followers of the acti-
during the entire history of some
sport, vities of the local turf.
with an all-year-round In addi- tion to this, the Club caters to the Hong Kong, only on very few oc-interest, to the extent of owning. 90 odd years of horse-racing in Chinese patrons evincing a keener sporting austinets of a large pro- casions has the charge of unsport-training and riding their own portion of the Hong Kong public.
who though not able to associate ing practice been made against amounts, drawing vast crowds as themselves intimately with racing.
rider--a record which compares colourful as any seen on any race- as active members, nevertheless very favourably with that of turf track in the world. are keenly interested in the sport, clubs in other parts of the world, and attend the meetings in their tens of thousands.
To-day, due to the difficulty in One outstanding incident occur- obtaining China ponies from the red in the year 1883, when during North, because of the hostilities, The history of the Juckey Club an off day race a jockey was re- Australian ponies are being rated often than previously. proper commences with the year ported to the Stewards for pulling far more
his pony. The 1849, when the Race Committee, would have called for the strong unqualified success.
circumstances and the experiment is proving an elated with the favourable res-
greeted | ponse - which had
est disciplinary action had not the their! Stewards "accepted Mr. X's ex- efforts during four years, decided
pony
TYRO STAKES WINNERS
Following is a list of winners of
years:
to keep the records of the meet-planation of the reason that in-
his duced him to pull in ings on file, though the informa- when it had a very good chance tion furnished is rather meagre of winning." Racing in Hong Kong had passed the experimental stage, and had The code of conduct maintain- already become as much a part of ed on the local turf has given a the life of the Colony as the com- good lead to racing in Eastern mercial community itself; de- veloping from
Asia, and, as might be expected, the ramshackle judges' matshed stand to the spa-Club was the incentive for English the Tyro Stakes over the last 10 the success. of Hong Kong Jockey cious, palatial structure of the
residents in other parts of China present obviating the necessity of
and Japan to organise similar book-makers by the installation of the pari-mutuel.
meetings thus encouraging an in-11931-Fortune Bay (H) in 2.16. terest in the sport, and endeavour- 1932-Doctor's Mandate (T. L. ing
to foster like ideals. The
Wong) in 2.14.1 (Record). British community in Peking was 1933-Tillicum (Hill) in 1.14.2. the first to follow suit, and their 1934-High Speed (S. W. Pan) in
1.16.2. race-course was opened in 1865,
1935-Pontiac Bay (Frost) in stimulating the planning of an-
1.13.1. THE original Race Committee in other for Shanghai, Newchwang.
cluded the heads of Jardine,
Yokohama and other outports. 1936-No event. Matheson & Co., Dent's and other That of Yokohama has risen to 1937-No event. firms, as well as naval and milit-fame, and its Jockey Club under 1938-Cameronian ary officers and Government off-the name of the Nippon Race Club cials, who cherished the idea of is almost an exact counterpart of putting into practice the highest our local organisation. Its spring! traditions of the Eritish Turf. How race meeting, April-May, is a po- well they succeeded is shown by pular event, sometimes attended the words of an English visitor to by the Emperor himself. the Colony who wrote:
Mongolian Ponies
Hong Principals On First Committee
"If any one is desirous of seeing
good, straightforward horse-racing Solve Main Problem. where there is no trickery, and where every horse is started and ridden, to win, I am afraid must go to Hong Kong."
t
(Encarnacao)
in 2.02. 1939--Eve of Heaven (Marshall)
in 1.07.2. 1940-No event.
LADIES' PURSE WINNERS
he FROM the 'seventies onward, Hong Kong Jockey Club has: flourished like the. Bay tree; dur- In this case it would seem that ing that decade, new events were
Following is a list of the win- Hong Kong led the world, or at added and the slow transition from ners of the Ladies' Purse over least the British Empire, in estab- the old to the new was finally ac- the last 10 years: lishing the highest standards of complished:
1931-Apello. (Quincey) in 1.47.1. 1932-King's Bounty: horse-racing, and, speaking gen-
(Y: S. erally these conditions, prevail to: China ponies, for many reasons Chang) in 1.47.2. this day. The pure spirit of sport, now became the choice of racing 1933-Gleneagles (Frost) in 1:47.2. untrammelled by professionalism, enthusiasts. Descendants of those 1934-Diana Bay (Frost) in 1:51.3. has been zealously maintained by hardy Mongolian ponies that gal 1935-Soldier of Britain (S. Y.
Sun) in 1.44.4: the Jockey Club by means of fix-loped tirelessly down over ed rules, many of which were laid continent of Asia, sweeping like a 1936-Cossack's Beauty (T. L.
Wong). in 1.56,3, down by the original Race Com-menacing flood into the very heart niitted. One of these, which is of Europe. Itself, bearing upon 1937-Wild Life (Frost) in 1:40:4 still rigidly, enforced, is the well the sturdy back the fierce 1988-Potentate (Poy) in 1:482. | known regulation, that all riders hordes of Ghengis Khan and 1939-Red Feather. (Wal) in 1.45.2..
must be amateurs.
Tamerlanes they were acclimatis In 1940 this event was open to nd to this treacherous, climate Australian ppales and resulted an This: nad simmilar rules have, ac- which took such a sickening, toll" follows: squired throughout the years, alof Jives, both human and animal, 1990 Ajax (8 C. Liang) hi 138:2,
the
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