180 years of horse racing at Kranji comes to an end on Saturday

With a lack of room for any sort of breeding program, Singapore has already relied heavily on imports from Australia to make up the racing strength. This has not always been just horses but jockeys, trainers and the media as well.

The history of horse racing in Singapore

Kranji itself was only opened in 2000 but the sport first raced in the country in February 1843. Serangoon Road racecourse at Farrer Park was the location and that lasted 90 years before Burkit Timah was opened in 1933. With the expansion of Singapore, the racing would move further north on the island to Kranji in 2000.

Even with the impressive land reclamation projects going on in Singapore, the use of such a huge site for something like horse racing when it could be built upon has seen the end of the sport. Attendances failed to recover post Covid and the land will be returned to the government in 2027.

The Group 1 races in Singapore

When Burkit Timah opened, a day at the races really started to take off in terms of popularity. The Singapore Derby was first run in 1880 but it was not until it was revived as a contest in 1959 at this track that it really started to excel.

Lee Freedman won the race in 2019 while Aussie expat Daniel Meagher won it in 2022 with Lim’s Kosciuszko. That horse is one of the favourites to win the final race run in Singapore on Saturday, the Grand Singapore Gold Cup.

The Singapore Gold Cup was won by Mark Zahra last year and by Craig Williams in both 2019 (for Lee Freedman) and in 2016. Meagher won the race in 2021 while his father John saw his horse Kim Angel salute in the contest back in 2000.

Unfortunately with these big races now restricted to local horses, they have seen a decline in quality. Godolphin were regular raiders of Kranji with their English-based trainer Saeed bin Suroor landing the Derby in 2000 with All The Way and the Gold Cup in 2001 with Kutub.

It is rare that Singapore-trained horses would make much of an impression outside of their own jurisdiction but one who did manage it was Rocket Man. He would head to Dubai in 2011 and take home the Golden Shaheen. Although he was trained by a South African, the horse was bred in Australia by Dean Fleming. He was by multiple Group 1 winner Viscount, out of New Zealand mare Macrosa.

The decline of the crowds

One of the main reasons given for the shutting of the track is lack of attendance. That has not been the case in 2024 with large crowds turning up. Saturday will see Kranji packed once more. Those in Singapore who love the sport of horse racing will be there to say goodbye to their final track.

Casinos like the Marina Bay Sands hit the sport hard when it opened. Giving people easier ways of gambling than trying to pick the winner of a horse race gave a quicker dopamine hit. Covid then hit the sport harder still with racing taking place behind closed doors. The crowds never recovered.

Perhaps a lot will simply shrug at the loss of horse racing in Singapore. It should be a lesson to the rest of the world, however. With pressure for the leisure dollar, anti-gambling groups gaining strength and pressure on societal licences for animal use in sports, we should all sit up and take notice.