Mind boggling. They handle 10 million on races that wouldn\'t handle 300k here, and the apparent transparency of the racing is unequaled.

 Training races and gallops online for FREE. Here, secret and misreported workouts. ahem.

 And now this. Which means they are handing 20 million a race, or more?

http://racing.scmp.com/freeservice/news/news20141123a.asp

 Makes Saratoga  look like Green Mountain.

 Surprised you don\'t go after this market.

plasticman: Here in America, horsemen act as if its their right to be trainers. Over there, they realize its a privilege. That\'s the difference.

Boscar Obarra: I continue to be amazed, they just bet 16 Million on a race with 100k purse.

 
  Even more enchanted with the professional level of the commentary patter.


PS I\'m way too smart to have two cents on it, but I\'ve been facinated with the fact that they run first timers vs winners  there regularly. Not sure why.

 I recalled before todays 4th that this guy John Size had put one like that over last week, and I\'d watched the \'training races\' after the fact. , and was impressed with the \'finesse\' of the work.

 He just did it again at 45-1.  Same style too, big late kick. Is it a Red Board in Hong Kong or do they use a different color?

NoCarolinaTony: Not to spoil the message, but 1 HK$ is equal to $0.129 US$.

This the 16 million in HK$ would be about $2.0million US. Still a lot of money...but....lets keep it in perspective.

NoCarolinaTony: Not to spoil the message, but 1 HK$ is equal to $0.129 US$.

This the 16 million in HK$ would be about $2.0million US. Still a lot of money...but....lets keep it in perspective.

miff: Hi NC Tony,

At present, it is reported that the daily HKJC handle averages $150 million per day, US Dollars.


Mike

NoCarolinaTony: Miff

The article referenced Dollars and it was a South Asia Paper. My Company CEo is headquartered there. I\'ve been there and all currency ost everything is posted in Local currency, otherwise, they would state in other currency in their papers.

I\'ll take your word for it, but would love to see the reference.

NC Tony

miff: Tony,

Also been there, crowds insane with frenzy type betting.On many occasions have heard or read about massive size of HK pools. Honestly can\'t put my hands on anything to confirm the HK handle figs right now.


Mike

TGJB: Supposedly the Chinese speaking bookmakers hanging at at the Chatham Square OTB were handling more than the OTB, and that was the highest handle one in the city.

magicnight: Tony;

The link takes you to a PDF on the site of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities. Page 40 of the PDF gives you annual flat races by country for 2013; page 42, purses; page 44, handle.

http://www.horseracingintfed.com/resources/Annual_Report_2013.pdf

Mike is correct. In 2013, Hong Kong ran 771 races, with a handle of just under 10 billion Euros (everything is converted to Euros in the chart). That works out to an average handle of 12,368,699 Euro per race. Convert that to dollars (x1.3) and you get an average of about 16 million US dollars bet per race.

Some other interesting items there. I will try to post some later.

Bob

Boscar Obarra: Thats ok Tony, I accept your apology ;-)

PS Congrats to whoever crushed the EX and TRI in the first race today at AQU. Paid $540, way too low, and the super paid 6,600 with the FAVE 4th, in a 7h race.

phil23: Likely know the answer but thought would inquire anyway. Given that it\'s the biggest day internationally till Dubai World Cup night (where we can get sheets..and much thanks for this) and given that it\'s just four races (so in theory many fewer horses to have to track down), any chance of some sheets?

TGAB: We\'ll look into it on Thursday and let you know. It\'s a long shot.

richiebee: May need Rocky (Mathcapper) to report on the 1st race double at Aq Wednesday. First race winner paid 3.90. Second race winner paid 8.60. DD paid 57.00.

Mathcapper: Yeah, the Domino horse in the 2nd got POUNDED in the win pool. Probably got keyed in the Ex\'s and Tri\'s as well.

Not so in the Super\'s or DD\'s though, which both came back very generous. Based on the final odds, the DD should\'ve paid only $19 instead of $57. The reason it didn\'t was because the horse was 9-1 in the doubles (more or less in line with the 10-1 ML) vs 3-1 on the board.

The win pool is generally more efficient than the DD pools. When the money shows like that on the board but not in the DD\'s, it\'s usually a good indicator the horse is gonna run today.