STC initiatives fire up racing prospects

Tuesday 1st of May 2018

Singapore Turf Club, under new leadership, has embarked on a series of initiatives to help racing in the island state return to its glory days, with a focus on on-track product and attracting international talent.

Chong Boo Ching took over from long-term president and CEO Yu Pang Fey in March last year and has been quick to make his presence felt, raising optimism amongst industry participants that Singapore may be able to rejoin the race with regional rivals.

While Asian giants Hong Kong and Japan, with heavily protected pari-mutuel models, have remained immune to the challenges facing racing in other parts of the world – most notably plummeting betting handles and dwindling crowds – Singapore has suffered through more than a decade of decline.

Even Korean racing, boosted by a similar system to Japan and thus steadied by a stringent government structure, has built a massive gap in betting figures ahead of Singapore.

In 2009, racing in Singapore looked relatively healthy, helped by a champion horse called Rocket Man, a gifted jockey named Joao Moreira and blessed with a modern facility at Kranji.

Business wasn't quite booming, but most experts felt the future of the sport looked bright in Singapore, with betting turnover robust by world standards and solid spectator figures.

"In 2009 and 2010 racing was really buzzing in Singapore," said Peter Twomey, an industry expert and bloodstock agent who spent the best part of a decade based in the city."When I relocated from Australia, horses like Rocket Man had become household names."

The biggest challenge for the STC arrived in 2010 with the introduction of Singapore's first two integrated resorts, Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa, giving the club far more competition than Hong Kong or Japan faced at the time.

By 2013 Rocket man had retired, Moreira had bolted for greener pastures in Hong Kong and betting numbers were falling at an alarming rate. Meanwhile, the casinos were already among the most profitable in the world.

In 2010, International Federation of Horse Racing figures stated Singapore turned over in excess of US$1 billion annually, but by 2014 the handle had dropped nearly 40 percent to $716 million.

Prize money was down too, plus the number of races and quality of the horse flesh had fallen considerably. This lack of competitiveness was epitomized by overseas dominance in Singapore's flagship races, which were eventually dropped from the schedule after Hong Kong horses dominated the two invitational races for the second straight year in 2015.

Then the STC had to withstand the effects of the 2014 Remote Gambling Act, which in theory should protect racing's interests, but arguably made promoting the sport even harder in an already tightly controlled environment.

Singapore may not enjoy the same advantages as Hong Kong, Japan and Korea, but Twomey believes an improving on-track product and a fresh outlook from incoming leadership can revitalize racing in the Lion City.

One of Chong's first moves as chairman was announcing three initiatives aimed at lifting the profile of the sport and boosting betting and the bottom line. A restructure of the racing calendar and system; a boost in prize money at top level to encourage owners to spend more on better horses and, perhaps most importantly, the reintroduction of international racing.

The return of international racing to Kranji is the initiative that has attracted the most attention.

Convincing some officials, and in particular owners and trainers, to pay for overseas horses to come to Singapore can be a hard sell – especially when year-after-year the visitors prove far superior to local horses and dominate the races.

In the early days of Hong Kong racing there was local resistance to the idea of international visitors competing, but experience there has shown at Sha Tin that invitational races boost turnover by creating foreign interest and broadening the local race fans’ knowledge.

At first the two international races, worth more than S$4 million combined, were set to return in the third weekend of May 2019, but a further announcement was made that four horses would be invited for this year's Group One Kranji Mile.

"I'm a firm believer in the need for aspirational races for connections to aim towards, and am very pleased to see STC has made the Kranji Mile an invitational race this year," Twomey said. "The night Dan Excel and Aerovelocity claimed the Group 1 double at Kranji in May 2015 the whole place was buzzing and it will be great to get back there for the same atmosphere and feeling in 2019."

To curry favour with local connections threatened by the dominance of the overseas raiders, the STC will offer incentives to Singaporean-trained horses, with a bonus of S$100,000 to the first Singapore horse past the post in the Kranji Mile and S$50,000 to the second.

Former champion jockey and now trainer Saimee Jumaat was one local to speak up in favour of the reintroduction of the big money events.

"It will do Singapore racing a world of good," he said. "For sure, the level of competition is going to be higher, we get to benchmark our horses against international ones... and it will benefit the local market.

"And, with the loss of international races in the last few years, having them back will bring back the exposure to Singapore, too."

Like paying overseas horses to come and compete in Singapore, dropping 100 races from the annual schedule, from 900 to 800, may seem counterintuitive when it comes to building betting turnover.

But there is method to the apparent madness – fewer races can actually equate to more money – with worldwide studies showing that reducing the numbers of races increases the runners per race and that larger field sizes are a key driver of wagering.

"There are fresh and enthusiastic faces in important positions at STC, like B.C. Chong and Alan Ow (STC Vice Chairman of Hospitality), who seem to understand the changes necessary to boost the profile of the sport among Singaporeans," Twomey said. "Ultimately, if racing can build its profile, there is opportunity to draw back punters and boost betting pool sizes."