Cheering on the horses at Happy Valley
By yabbox

A Night at the Races

If you’re in Hong Kong on a Wednesday evening you have to go to the races. I arrived in Hong Kong on a Tuesday and stayed for 9 days, which meant I could go the races twice! Racing in Hong Kong is very accessible, in terms of travel and getting involved; it’s a lot of fun, a lovely grass race track where the going is always good and a great mix of local’s, mainland Chinese (both of whom love gambling), with a lot of working foreigners and other tourists from all over. Everyone rubs shoulders which each other, except I presume those in the private boxes and members enclosures. I met Hong Kongers, Singaporeans, English, Irish, Dutch, Germans and Japanese – another lot who love gambling!

It is also a cheap evening out – depending how much you lose on the horses! Entrance to the General Admission stands is just HK$10, a draught beer is HK$30+, a Ballentine’s Coke HK$34, a bowl of roasted pork with crackling served on rice HK$34 and the minimum bet is HK$10.

There are two racetracks in Hong Kong, Happy Valley and Sha Tin. Unless you’re a keen racegoer, don’t bother with Sha Tin. Maybe if you want to experience the day out and can’t make a Wednesday evening event, go to Sha Tin on a Saturday/Sunday. Maybe.

Happy Valley is the oldest track, founded in 1845 by the British on an old swamp as opposed to the relatively new course at Sha Tin built in 1978. Despite Happy Valley racecourse being rebuilt in 1995, the stadium still keeps a great atmosphere on race night. There are sections of the stands with commentary and live video feed in English, lot’s of beer and food tents and two public floors of bars and betting as well as outdoor stands, access to the Parade Ring and viewing right up to the race course edge.

The public stands sit next to the Members Enclosure, so the finishing line is quite close, but you can’t get alongside, unless you have access to other stands. For example you can pay HK$180 at Gate C, which has more exclusive bars, and stands.

The first race is around 7pm and there are normally 8 races on the card, with varying distance and standards, but normally all have 12 entries.

How to Bet

Betting in Hong Kong is different from what you may be used to.  There are no independent bookmakers and all bets are controlled by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which operate like a TOTE and invest money back in to the future of racing.  They also operate an amazing website, where you have live odds, live races, rebate checks and lot’s of background info on each horse.  There are HKJC Betting shops all over Hong Kong, you can spot them easily when racing is on as there will be a crowd outside!

But how to place a bet at Happy Valley?  There are betting rooms and small stands dotted all over the course, but you won’t find the pitches and tic-tac show on course as in England.  There are Customer Service desks that can also help.

• Buy the day’s paper with the racing section before arrival.
• Upon entry pick up a racecard (A4 sheet for free) or official racecard for HK$10.
• Have a look at the Parade Ring to view the horses and jockeys as they mount.
• Look at the TV screens, consult your race card and check the form.
• Go to one of the betting halls and find the tray of betting slips, which vary depending on which bet you wish to make.  The blue ones are for Win / Place (each way) / Quinella bets.  I will explain this below.
• Complete the betting slip.
• Queue up at the window and place your bet – check the betting slip you receive before leaving the desk.
• Watch the race.
• Collect your winnings!

How to fill in the Betting Slip

I will start with the general betting slip which is blue.

This betting slip can be used for five different types of bet: Win * Place * Quinella * Quinella Place * All Up *

Win – Your chosen horse must be first past the post.
Place – Lower odds, your horse can come in the top four* (depending how many horses start).
Quinella – You chose two horses in the same race, they must finish first and second, in either order.
Quinella Place – You chose two horses, one must finish first, the other must be placed, i.e second, third of fourth.
All Up – Not sure!

The betting slip may look like a complex mathematical paper, but it really is quite easy.  Place a diagonal mark in the upcoming RACE NO (number). Then underneath the ‘SINGLE RACE’ chose the ‘POOL’ in which to enter your bet: either Win, Place, Quinella or Quinella Place.  Ignore the pink shaded boxes and instead in the bottom left under ‘SELECTIONS’, mark your chosen horse number. Then on the far right side, mark ‘UNIT’ and then mark how much you wish to bet.  The minimum bet on a Win / Place is HK$10.

Win / Place Example

So, for a simple WIN or PLACE bet, there should be 4 sections filled out.  Race Number, Pool, Selection and the amount you bet.  There will be a minimum of five marks on the slip, as you also have to chose UNIT$ or TICKET$.  Furthermore, if you bet HK$60, you will mark the $50 and the $10 box.

Quinella / Quinella Place Example

With a Quinella bet you are choosing two horses in the same race.  The TV screens will have the Live Quinella odds on display in a chart.  Find your horses number along the x-axis and the y-axis and run along to see the current odds.  You will complete the form as above, but chose two numbers in the SELECTION section.  You are not making a preference over which of your chosen selections will win, or be placed.  As above, you chose a UNIT$ price and this is a total price for the combination bet.  You are making one bet. Both horses must

Use a separate betting slip for each bet, unless you are making a combination bet. Hand the ticket over the counter together with your wager and you will receive a printed betting slip in return.

As I mentionned before, there are Customer Service Desks and lots of staff who will be only too happy to help you complete the betting slip, it is after all your money that you’ll be spending!

Clutch that winning betting slip and join everyone else at the rails or in the stands are cheer your runner home!  Should you be lucky, you can claim your winnings as soon as the Official Dividends have been announced.  You can also check online later to double check if you had the winning ticket rebate due.

http://bet.hkjc.com/default.aspx?lang=en&langRedirect=true

Getting There

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Valley_Racecourse

More

http://trivialmatters.blogspot.com/2008/05/happy-turn-of-fortune-in-hong-kong.html