Hong Kong Jockey Club Pledges Continued Sports Support After Donating Nearly HK$6.7 Billion Over Decade at Community Day

Over the years, The Hong Kong Jockey Club has consistently supported the advancement of the country’s sports development and the promotion of inclusivity in sports, encouraging people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities to lead active and healthy lifestyles. In the last ten years alone, the Club’s Charities Trust has provided nearly HK$6.7 billion to support sports development at both elite and community levels.

The Hon Rosanna Law, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism (3rd left); Lin Nan, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Publicity, Cultural and Sports Affairs of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the HKSAR (2nd right); The Hon Martin Liao, Club Chairman (3rd right); Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, Club Chief Executive Officer (2nd left); The Hon Kenneth Fok, Member of the Legislative Council (1st right), and George Tsoi, Commissioner for Sports (1st left) officiate at The Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Day.

Today, the Club stated that it will continue its efforts to advance sports development in Hong Kong. By bringing major sports events into the community and progressing towards professional and industry development, the Club aims to support the HKSAR Government’s efforts to promote sports in the community, support elite sports, maintain Hong Kong’s status as a centre for major international sports events, enhance professionalism and develop sports as an industry.

This year’s The Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Day was held at Sha Tin Racecourse, attracting over 200 charity and community representatives. The ceremony was officiated by The Hon Rosanna Law, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism of the HKSAR Government; Lin Nan, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Publicity, Cultural and Sports Affairs of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the HKSAR; The Hon Martin Liao, Club Chairman; Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, Club Chief Executive Officer; The Hon Kenneth Fok, Member of the Legislative Council of the HKSAR; and George Tsoi, Commissioner for Sports of the HKSAR Government.

Club Chairman The Hon Martin Liao said this year’s Community Day, featuring sports as its theme, aimed to showcase the Club’s contribution and strong commitment to sports development in Hong Kong.

Club Chairman The Hon Martin Liao highlighted that horse racing is a symbol of the city’s prosperity and stability under One Country, Two Systems, and remains a highly popular sport, embodying Hong Kong’s “can-do” spirit. This year’s Community Day features sports as its theme, showcasing the Club’s contribution and strong commitment to sports development in Hong Kong. Through its unique integrated business model, the Club delivers world-class horse racing and responsible wagering, supports the HKSAR Government in combatting illegal gambling, and generates economic and social value for Hong Kong through tax contributions, charity donations and employment opportunities for the betterment of society. In the last financial year, the Club contributed a total of HK$39.1 billion to society, including HK$9.0 billion in approved charity donations. The Club is Hong Kong’s largest single taxpayer, with its Charities Trust among the biggest donors worldwide and the largest in Asia.

The Hon Rosanna Law, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, noted that the Club has long been one of the Government’s most valued partners in the promotion of sports.

The Hon Rosanna Law, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, emphasised the Government’s continued commitment to investing in and promoting sports development in Hong Kong. She noted that the Club has long been one of the Government’s most valued partners in the promotion of sports, from supporting the construction of the Hong Kong Sports Institute (formerly the Jubilee Sports Centre) in the late 1970s to its support for the 15th National Games, the 12th National Games for Persons with Disabilities and the 9th National Special Olympic Games, as well as various “M” Mark events including the Hong Kong Sevens, which concludes today at Kai Tak Sports Park.

Officiating guests, Club Stewards and members of the Club’s Board of Management toast the success of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Day.

Going forward, the Club will continue to work alongside stakeholders to contribute to Hong Kong’s sports development blueprint. Leveraging major sports events as a platform, the Club will bring sports culture deeper into the community through continued support for multiple “M” Mark events as an Official Community Partner, enabling broader participation, including among underprivileged groups, to experience the appeal of sports and promote social inclusion. In parallel, new initiatives will continue to be introduced, such as this week’s “Racing with Rugby”, to further enhance the economic impact, international profile and benefits of sports development generated by major events in Hong Kong.

The Hon Rosanna Law, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism (centre), together with The Hon Martin Liao, Club Chairman (left) and Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, Club Chief Executive Officer (right) in a group photo.

The Club will also actively foster a vibrant culture of community sports by developing iconic sports such as equestrian, football, basketball, golf and rugby, broadening the public’s exposure while deepening interest and sports literacy. These diverse activities and support programmes will help enhance youth resilience, improve physical and mental health, and strengthen social cohesion, thereby fostering positive values.

The Hon Rosanna Law, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism (right), presents The Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Trophy to Alan Hu (left), owner of the winning horse Absolute Honour. The historic 170-year-old trophy was generously donated by the late Tobias Brown in recognition of the Club’s charitable contributions to the community.

To further strengthen the sports ecosystem and promote sustainable development, the Club will continue to enhance talent development, strengthen corporate governance and improve management capacity across sports organisations. These efforts will generate greater social impact, raise professional standards across the sector, and support the development of both elite and community sports. Through these initiatives, the Club aims to work closely with the HKSAR Government and partners across society to inject new momentum in local sports development and reinforce Hong Kong’s position as a world-class destination for sports, entertainment and tourism.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Trophy presentation ceremony.

Sports development remains one of the Club’s key focus areas. The Club has long supported a wide range of sports initiatives to promote a healthier and more vibrant society. These include:

• The Trust-initiated and funded JC Fit City, which encourages citizens to incorporate sports and exercise into their daily lives to achieve the World Health Organization’s recommended weekly level of physical activity;

• JC Project MuSE, a school-based music (Mu) and sports (S) education (E) programme for primary school children in the most impoverished areas of Hong Kong;

• The Jockey Club HKFA Football Development Programme, which empowers people of all ages and abilities - including students, parents, coaches and seniors - to experience the joy of football;

• The Jockey Club Youth Football Academy Summit, which provides a platform for young footballers from different areas to learn, exchange views, and understand cultural differences.

Club Chairman The Hon Martin Liao (centre), together with JC Fit City participant Yui (right) and JC Fit City project partner representative Lily Tse (left) pose for a photo. Yui shared that the JC Fit City project helped him break the “sport-zero” habit and significantly improve his health.

The Club initiated the annual Community Day race meeting in 2005 as a way of honouring its successful partnerships with Government and community organisations for the betterment of society. This initiative followed the generous donation of a silver racing trophy, over 170 years old, by the late Tobias Brown, in recognition of the Club’s charitable contributions to the community. It has since been renamed The Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Trophy. It was won this year by Absolute Honour, ridden by Zac Purton. The Hon Rosanna Law, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, presented the trophy to winning owner Alan Hu.

David Hayes believes Ka Ying Rising’s extraordinary dominance can continue indefinitely after the world’s premier sprinter demolished quality opposition to post a Hong Kong record 18th successive victory in course record time in the HK$13 million G1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m) at Sha Tin on Sunday (22 February).

Ka Ying Rising thrashes his rivals to win the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup. Photo source: the Hong Kong Jockey Club

Stretching his unbeaten sequence beyond Silent Witness’ longstanding mark of 17 wins, slotted between 2002 and 2005, Ka Ying Rising imperiously steamrolled his opposition in 1m 19.36s to smash the previous course record of 1m 19.92s, jointly held by Encouraging and Packing Hermod.

Jockey Zac Purton confirmed Hayes had told him pre-race “to break the track record” after he had ridden Ka Ying Rising hands-and-heels to the finish, three-and-half-lengths clear of Helios Express with Lucky Sweynesse one-and-a-quarter lengths further astern.

Improving his overall record to 19 wins from 21 starts – after two narrow seconds as a three-year-old – Ka Ying Rising jumped quickly from barrier three to sit second behind Copartner Prance and clocked 21.93s from the 1200m to the 800m before putting his rivals to the sword over the final 800m in a blistering 43.96s, with respective 200m splits of 11.26s, 11.07s, 10.52s and 11.11s to create history.

Unbeaten since February 2024, Ka Ying Rising’s unbeaten streak includes eight Group 1s – two LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint victories (2024 & 2025), two Centenary Sprint Cup titles (2025 & 2026), The Everest (2025), the Chairman’s Sprint Prize (2025) and now a pair of Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup trophies (2025 & 2026).

Silent Witness reigned from December 2002 to April 2005, snaring seven top-level features – the Hong Kong Sprint in 2003 & 2004, two Centenary Sprint Cups (2004 & 2005), two Chairman’s Sprint Prize triumphs (2004 & 2005) and the 2005 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup.

Zac Purton and David Hayes celebrate with Leung Shek Kong of the Ka Ying Syndicate. Photo source: the Hong Kong Jockey Club

The stunning nature of Ka Ying Rising’s latest victory prompted Hayes to declare that the five-year-old could sustain his current level of excellence for the next 18 months, fitness permitting.

“If we can place him conservatively, we hope to have him for another couple of seasons, that’s really exciting,” Hayes said. “He loves a month between runs, so we’ll probably go for the (G2) Sprint Cup (1200m) next (on 6 April) and then we don’t have to train him too hard and babysit him into the Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m on 26 April).

“Hopefully we can get another clean sweep of the season again with The Everest in the middle.

“He’s more composed than ever, he’s changing legs and you can’t ask for much more than he’s doing. He’s breaking track records and his last three runs, he’d have broken the track record if Zac had let him go.

“He jumped so well (today) and cruised through the bend beautifully – at the 300m, I could really enjoy it. I could tell he had the race in command. Zac went for him a bit more than he normally does and rode to instructions, which was good.

“I’ve trained a lot of horses that have gone 742 days without winning, so to continuously win for 742 days is mind-numbing. It’s two and a half years and the thing people don’t realise is that he was the (equal) youngest horse in the race today. They always think he’s the big boy bashing them up, but he’s actually the baby.

“It’s a huge relief. I didn’t think the team could have had him better for today and I was confident that if the track was riding fast, he could break the (track) record. I didn’t want Zac sitting up in the last 100m, I said to him ‘let him run through the post and we’ll see how strong he is at 1400m’. He’s just a star.

“I just thought for his worldwide ratings, I wanted Zac to let him go today and hopefully he can keep climbing up that incredible ladder that he’s going up. When you’ve got a horse as good as him, he’s the one everyone will be comparing the next big horse too.”

Zac Purton has won 18 races aboard Ka Ying Rising. Photo source: the Hong Kong Jockey Club

Purton notched his fifth victory in the race following wins on Ambitious Dragon (2013) and Beauty Generation (2018, 2019 & 2020) and believes Ka Ying Rising has reached his peak.

“I think he’s reached his level and it’s just a matter of managing him now and try to preserve that for as long as we can,” Purton said. “He’s the horse of a lifetime. I just shake my head every time with the performances he puts up and the ease with which he does.

“I’ve just got to pinch myself, I’m so lucky. He’s just different – he’s in a league of his own. They’re very good horses that he’s racing against, and he just does it like he’s having a barrier trial and let’s hope he can stay in this form for another 12 or 18 months.

“It was pretty straightforward. He jumped well, he was in a lovely rhythm behind Copartner Prance. Patch Of Theta went to move around me about the 1200m and I just made sure I was going to give my horse plenty of room. And then he just did his job – he did what he does.

“To be etched in history now forever is part of my legacy, part of David’s and a part of Ka Ying Rising and hopefully he can continue on doing what he’s doing. We’re all enjoying being associated with him and I think everyone is enjoying watching him being successful as well.

“The horse deserves all the credit. He’s the one with the ability and he continues to step out, race after race, and blow good quality horses away and it’s very unique to see that.”

Currently the second-highest rated horse in the world, Ka Ying Rising also holds the 1200m turf course record (1m 07.20s).

Purton also triumphed aboard Manfred Man-trained debutant Almighty Lightning (128lb) in the Class 4 Daffodil Handicap (1000m), Cool Blue (122lb) for Chris So in the Class 5 Jasmine Handicap (1800m), Pierre Ng’s Aerovolanic (131lb) in the Class 4 Peach Blossom Handicap (1400m) and Cool Boy in the Class 3 Peony Handicap (1200m) for Jamie Richards.

Stellar Express (134lb) slotted his fifth course and distance success in the Class 2 Orchid Handicap (1000m), clocking 55.36s for John Size and Andrea Atzeni. Formerly known as Dariym, the Zoustar gelding won three races in France when trained by Francis-Henri Graffard.

Frankie Lor notched a treble, prevailing with the talented Smart Golf in the Class 4 Heung Yee Kuk Centenary Cup Handicap (1200m) under Harry Bentley, Embrace Aberdeen (135lb) in the Class 4 Gladiolus Handicap (1200m) under Matthew Poon before the impressive Salon S clinched the Class 3 Rose Handicap (1400m) to give Poon a treble.

Poon also triumphed on David Hall’s Power Of Vitam landed the Class 3 Primula Handicap (1600m) and earned a PP Bonus of HK$1.5 million after All’s Well bolted in with the Class 4 Peach Blossom Handicap (1400m) under Dylan Browne McMonagle for Dennis Yip.

Hong Kong racing continues on Wednesday night (25 February) at Happy Valley.