Jockey Club chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges has identified re-engaging with Hong Kong racing fans and increasing field sizes as key focuses for next season after turnover dropped 4.5 per cent for the 2023-24 campaign.

Punters wagered HK$134.7 billion, ending a run of three consecutive years of record turnover figures in the city.

While describing the overall figure “satisfactory”, Engelbrecht-Bresges said several challenges led to the decline, including economic downturn which has impacted turnover in many racing jurisdictions around the world.

“If you look at the global horse racing scene, besides Japan, it is under significant challenges due to the economy and there is a complete change in consumer behaviour,” Engelbrecht-Bresges said.

“We see this in Hong Kong even more, with people spending differently after Covid. So we have to reinvent what we do. Japan has done a fantastic job, but I personally think we have to be different to Japan. We can focus on the entertainment element more and our strategy is to really focus on mainland Chinese people coming here.

“If you look at turnover and gross margin, you have to look at field sizes because this year, we were definitely not at optimum field sizes. In my view, it contributed to the four per cent. We have a strategy to fix the horse population issue and we will see field sizes grow. I’m convinced we will come out of these economic challenges stronger with our long-term vision.”

The club’s strategy to expand its customer base globally partially offset the turnover decline, with Hong Kong races attracting record commingling turnover of HK$28.8 billion - a 13.7 per cent increase on the 2022-23 season.

The club’s simulcast programme grew significantly again to 368 overseas races - up from 299 last year - and turnover of HK$12.8 billion marked an increase of 8.7 per cent on 2022-23.

The ever-expanding World Pool initiative, in which the club accepts bets from overseas partners and local punters, continued to flourish. In 2023-24, the number of World Pool races increased from 175 to 258 and turnover grew by 57.1 per cent.

One of the highlights of the campaign was the Lunar New Year meeting, which saw the biggest post-pandemic crowd of 81,049 descend on Sha Tin and punters wager HK$1.74 billion.

Sunday’s season finale at Sha Tin also attracted a strong crowd of 30,755.

“The atmosphere we had, I don’t think anywhere in the world you would see that on a racecourse,” Engelbrecht-Bresges said of Sunday’s final meeting of the season.

“It’s not just the entertainment, it’s the passion people have for the sport. Our goal is to bring customers back to the course and we have to invest more on entertainment and food and beverage offerings.”

On the track on Sunday, Francis Lui Kin-wai secured his first trainers’ championship in dramatic style with victory in the final race helping him beat Pierre Ng Pang-chi by one win.

Vincent Ho Chak-yiu and Romantic Warrior were named Most Popular Jockey and Most Popular Horse respectively after a fan vote.

While the club is yet to release next term’s fixture, the 2024-25 season is expected to kick off on September 8.