Why Hong Kong's racing fans are onto a winner

Nothing illustrates life in the city better than the love of having a punt on the races, as the tens of thousands flocking to Sha Tin today for the opening event of the season will no doubt attest.

Horse racing began unofficially in Hong Kong almost as soon as the British military landed in 1841. At first, it was a merely a few army officers and wealthy businessmen who were taking part. But by 1884, the enthusiasts had drained a dangerous, malaria-ridden swamp at Happy Valley and a rough track was laid out.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club was founded that same year and for the next half century, its meetings were the prime events on the social calendar.

Governors, taipans, civil servants, merchants and tourists crowded into makeshift stands, then into progressively more splendid structures, with the hawker betting in the public stand as shrewd a judge of the odds as a banker in the members' stand. The larger Sha Tin track was built in 1978. But the greatest change came with the switch from amateur to professional racing in 1971.

From the start, the Jockey Club focused much of its activities on its charitable role.

In the 1950s, it helped the devastated city through the painful task of post-war reconstruction and provided care for a massive influx of refugees.