Racing in Singapore is set to be discontinued from October next year following a government decision to repurpose the 120 hectares of land in Kranji on which the Singapore Racecourse currently sits.
It is a crushing blow to the hard-working participants, with the Singapore Turf Club to hold its final race meeting on 5 October 2024.
Racing has taken place in Singapore for more than 180 years across three venues – Farrer Park, Bukit Timah and Kranji – with the latter the home of the Singapore Turf Club for the past 23 years.
The land-constrained nation continually reviews its land use plans to best meet its needs and the crown-owned site at Kranji represents a valuable resource.
“This was not an easy decision, but necessary,” said Second Minister for Finance and for National Development Indranee Rajah at a press conference on Monday afternoon.
“We do need this land for other uses,” she said. “We want to ensure that land-use is optimised to meet Singaporeans needs. We plan not just for this generation, but for the next.
“The idea is to use this land for a few different things – firstly housing, including public housing and other potential uses including leisure and recreation.
“This is in line with a broader plan to develop the northern region.”
The decision has rocked the tight-knit racing community, where there are 23 licensed trainers that look after a total of 716 thoroughbreds, including Kiwi expats Stephen Gray and Donna Logan.
Heading the trainers’ premiership is expatriate Zimbabwean Michael Clements, who is also the president of the Singapore Trainers’ Association.
“Moral is pretty low. We have a trainers’ meeting today to see how we move forward,” Clements told RSN.
“It was pretty devastating to have the carpet swept from under our feet, so to speak. Clearly the powers that be have been planning this for some time and we have been busy rebuilding after Covid and having our owners reinvest.
“A lot of trainers and owners here have a lot of young horses and to have the time-line taken away from us with regards to going forward and preparing these horses for racing, it is unsettling and a pretty difficult time up here for everybody at the moment.”
For Kiwi trainer Donna Logan, the announcement came as a shock and she is now doing her best to put on a brave face as she looks after her team – both human and equine.
“The Singapore Turf Club made a $50 million profit last year and I could never in my wildest dreams imagine how a government would abandon this amount of people and horses,” Logan told SEN Track.
“It’s been a real kick in the guts for me. Even if they had said we’re closing but there is a glimpse of privatisation, it gives people a bit of hope, but there is nothing.
“I had a staff meeting and said to the staff that I would be here to turn the lights out team, and I hope you’re here with me.
“The support from my staff has been incredible.”
Clements said there was no dialogue with officials whatsoever prior to Monday’s announcement and as such they have yet to clarify the direction for trainers and their staff, let alone the horses going forward.
“We probably need to let the dust settle over the next couple of weeks and get feedback from our clients, from our owners and see what they would like to do with their horses going forward. It is very unsettling for everybody with regard to the future.”
Racing in Singapore has been on the wane for more than a decade, with the implementation of a casino in 2010, coupled with restrictions on promoting the sport as a result of a conservative government attitude towards racing, playing a significant role in the decline.
In addition, the rise of unregulated gambling as opposed to betting through the totalisator has also been detrimental to the sustainability of the once mighty racing jurisdiction.
After a stressful Covid period which resulted in several high-profile trainers and jockeys exiting the island nation, there had looked to be renewed enthusiasm for the sport in recent times.
Clements also pointed to a disconnect between senior Singapore Turf Club officials and the government in the past decade.
Photo: Trish Dunell
“There is a new generation of government officials that have come through,” he said.
“The Chairman of the Club and the racing stewards in the past decade don’t seem to have been as well connected into the government in regard to keeping the support for racing going.
“They are not as passionate about horse racing as previous Chairmen and boards and somehow the management of the Club over the last ten years just hasn’t been up to scratch and hasn’t been what it was previously.
“Covid was a knock to the industry as well and the betting platforms weren’t very well established compared to other jurisdictions where racing thrived through Covid. It is a number of factors.”
The club have indicated that horse welfare will be a priority. The government has said horses will be exported to new homes and costs will be covered, while a monthly incentive of S$700 per month is being offered to keep horses in training.
But Clements is concerned that both the Club and the government haven’t thoroughly considered the practical ramifications of the wind-up.
“I think our biggest fear over the next 16 months is a possible collapse of the industry,” Clements said.
“It is a big concern as to whether we do actually get to October next year. To be racing one day at the end of October and then to not be racing the next day and be sitting with a big horse population just hasn’t really been thought through.
“We are going to have some sort of push towards a reasonable outcome to this.
“One of our options is to push for some kind of extension so that it is actually closed down properly with correct planning. But obviously the decision has been made by the government and that is going to be very difficult to turn-around.”
