Thousands watch Singapore’s last horse race, after 181 years

Punters assess horses and jockeys during a parade at the Singapore Turf Club in Kranji, Singapore October 5, 2024. REUTERS/Edgar Su

SINGAPORE– After a more than 180-year history, horse racing in Singapore has come to an end.

The city-state’s Singapore Turf Club held its final horse race in front of a 10,000-strong crowd on Saturday Oct. 5, before it hands back the 120-hectare racecourse to the government for redevelopment in 2027.

The Turf Club is the land-scarce financial hub’s only racecourse.

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The crowd ranged from focused punters in shorts holding on to race booklets with a cigarette between their lips, to women decked out in hats and fascinators.

Eager to witness the end of an era was retiree Lawrence Phua, 75. As a young boy, Phua used to help his brother sell horse racing guidebooks outside the turf club’s former location in Bukit Timah in central Singapore, also set to turn into housing.

“I know nothing about gambling, but I am a bit emotional and quite sad that horse racing is no more after more than a hundred years,” he said.

Horses race in the Grand Singapore Gold Cup on the last race day at the Singapore Turf Club, in Singapore October 5, 2024. REUTERS/Edgar Su

Phua said this was his first visit to the Kranji location of the Turf Club in northern Singapore, which opened in 1999 after S$500 million ($383.67 million) worth of construction.

Horse racing in Singapore has a long history that dates back to its colonial past. The first race in 1843 was held to mark the 24th anniversary of Singapore coming under British colonial rule, according to the club. The Turf Club later hosted Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II in 1972, seven years after Singapore gained independence, when 26,000 came to see the royal family.

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The land will be handed over to the government to meet housing, leisure and recreational demands as the population grows. Singapore is smaller than New York City and is home to 6 million people.

When the closure was announced in June last year, the Singapore Turf Club said attendance had waned over the past decade.

Race days used to average an attendance of 11,000 in 2010, which fell to 6,000 in 2019 and 2,600 when the racecourse reopened after the pandemic. The five-storey grandstand can hold 30,000 spectators.

In comparison, Hong Kong has a thriving horse racing scene with more than 40,000 punters wagering HK$1.31 billion ($168.64 million) on the first day of the fresh racing season in September, according to the South China Morning Post.