The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) has suspended a highly anticipated horse racing event due to be held in mainland China, citing a new risk assessment from mainland authorities.

HKJC Conghua Racecourse. Photo: HKJC.

Following its annual general meeting, the HKJC said in a statement on Wednesday that the scheduled race meeting would be postponed to an unspecified date.

In November last year, HKJC CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said in an interview that the club would stage a world-class horse racing event at its Conghua Racecourse in Guangzhou – the club’s first racecourse in the Chinese mainland. The meeting had been scheduled for October 31, and was expected to feature five to six races.

Engelbrecht-Bresges said the inaugural meeting would only be attended by officials and invited guests.

“The second meeting, which will be at the end of November, will be the first real launch for everyone,” Engelbrecht-Bresges added. “It will be the launch of world-class racing in mainland China.”

People witness the exhibition race day in the Conghua Racecourse in March, 2019. Photo: HKJC.

According to the HKJC statement, the club “very recently received [the] latest risk assessment from the relevant Mainland departments.”

“Following discussions between both parties,” the statement read, “it was agreed that we will continue to work closely together to devise appropriate mitigation measures.”

It added that the HKJC has long been working with mainland Chinese authorities to fulfil “all necessary statutory and procedural requirements” for the event.

Surprise cancellation

Local media reported that the cancellation came as a shock to HKJC members.

The Conghua Racecourse was first opened in 2018. In March 2019, the HKJC held an exhibition race day, which saw Hong Kong horses and jockeys compete in the mainland for the first time.

VIPs included Hong Kong’s then-chief executive Carrie Lam, then-director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office Zhang Xiaoming, and then-governor of Guangdong Ma Xingrui.

Carrie Lam, then-chief executive of Hong Kong, attends the exhibition race day of Conghua Racecourse in March 2019 and delivers a speech. Photo: HKJC.

The Jockey Club, founded in 1884, holds a government-granted monopoly on betting in horseracing and football in Hong Kong.

In April this year, the Hong Kong government announced it would suspend plans to legalise basketball betting, citing concerns about the rapid growth of prediction markets.