Singapore’s almost two-century tryst with horse racing will finish for good subsequent 12 months when the nation’s solely horse racing membership will shut store.
The Singapore Turf Membership (STC) was based in October 1842.
Its 100th and remaining race for the Grand Singapore Gold Cup will happen on 5 October 2024, native stories mentioned.
The island nation’s authorities introduced plans that the big, 120-hectare website will probably be redeveloped for public housing, citing the “restricted land” out there to fulfill such wants for the general public.
“We’re saddened by the choice of the federal government to shut the membership,” the STC mentioned in a press release. “On the identical time, we perceive the land wants of Singapore, together with housing and different potential makes use of akin to leisure and recreation,” chairperson Niam Chiang Meng mentioned.
“Singapore is a city-state with restricted land,” the ministry of nationwide improvement and the ministry of finance mentioned in a joint assertion. “The federal government regularly opinions its land use plans to fulfill as we speak’s wants whereas making certain there may be adequate land for future generations.”
The STC will return the land to the federal government in 2027, it was reported.
The STC was based because the Singapore Sporting Membership by Scottish service provider William Henry Macleod Learn and a gaggle of horse racing fanatics, in response to The Strait Instances.
It was then positioned at Farrer Park. The STC moved to its present location at Kranji within the north of the island.
“We are going to do our greatest to make sure enterprise as typical for the Membership till our remaining race assembly,” STC chair Mr Meng mentioned.
Individuals queue as much as place wager for the annual ToTo Hongbao draw at a Singapore Turf Membership sales space in 2004
(AFP by way of Getty Pictures)
“Concurrently, we are going to work with our stakeholders to make sure a easy exit for native horse racing and make the required preparations for the property to be handed over to the federal government by March 2027,” he mentioned.
“We’re aligned with the federal government on the necessity to spend money on the way forward for Singapore.”
STC president and chief government Irene Lim hopes the membership will “depart a long-lasting impression”.
“We’re dedicated to seeing this section of the nation’s historical past come to an finish in a dignified method, befitting all our stakeholders together with staff, jockeys, racehorse homeowners, racehorse trainers, the equestrian neighborhood and horses which have graced our grounds,” she was quoted as saying by RaceNet.
“We hope to depart a long-lasting impression of the Membership that will probably be fondly and proudly remembered by Singapore and the world.”