From 1842 to final home stretch: A short history of Singapore’s horse racing

IN ITS heyday, the Singapore Turf Club was packed with thousands of horse-racing enthusiasts and others feeling lucky. In the big races with top-dollar prizes, it was like a mini-Ascott race, with British royalty and tycoons in attendance. But over the decades, Singapore’s horse racing lost its glamour and excitement to other attractions while betting fans flocked to Singapore’s glittering casinos with the opening of Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa.

Here, we trace the history of a Singapore institution with a legacy straddling almost 200 years:

Oct 4, 1842: Where it all began... in Farrer Park

The Singapore Turf Club was founded as the Singapore Sporting Club by a Scottish merchant and a group of horse-racing enthusiasts.

It held its first race - the Singapore Cup - in February 1843 to mark the 24th anniversary of Singapore’s founding by Sir Stamford Raffles. The race was watched by over 300 spectators and came with a prize of S$150, a princely sum in those days.

In 1880, it hosted the first Singapore Derby, a 2,400m race featuring ponies brought in from China. The prize money, once again: S$150. An interesting piece of STC trivia: Singapore’s first flight took off from the Serangoon Road race course lane on March 16, 1911.

1933: Expansion to Bukit Timah (what is now Turf City)

The Singapore Turf Club (named as such in 1924) sold the race course to the Singapore Improvement Trust for S$1.5 million, and used about half of the proceeds to buy a new site, carving out 98 hectares (almost 1 million sq m) from the Bukit Timah Rubber Estate.

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The Bukit Timah Racecourse, which cost more than S$3 million to build, opened on April 15 that year, in a grand ceremony attended by 5,000 members and guests. In no time, “A Day At the Races” became a thing here:

The late QEII and the late Prince Philip also popped by a couple times:

1981: Woman jockeys were allowed.

Two Australians were the first two women granted local permits to become woman jockeys. This came after the first race that was won by a mare (a female horse), though:

Jan 1, 1988: Tote Board formed

The Singapore Totalisator Board was formed, and appointed the Bukit Turf Club to take over racing and 4D operations from the Singapore Turf Club.

January 1989: Singapore horse wins international racing event

And Colonial Chief was the first horse to win more than S$1 million in prize money.

Aug 11, 1991: A true blue Singaporean horse wins a major feature race

Tuneful Melody won the S$250,000 Raffles Cup, named after Sir Stamford Raffles, of course.

Aug 22, 1995: The first concert at the races

Rod Stewart had his first Singapore performance, in front of an 8,000-strong audience.

Aug 7, 1999: The Turf Club expands again... to Kranji

After five years of building, the S$500 million, 124-ha Kranji Racecourse opened.

Its five-storey grandstand could hold 30,000 spectators, with air-conditioned stables, swimming pools, exercise tracks and a veterinary hospital for the horses too.

Prize money by this point was in the six-figure range, with the first live race held on Sept 25, 1999, bolstered by a S$350,000 prize.

Mar 4, 2000: Kranji Racecourse officially opens, and prize money enters the millions

It started with the S$3 million Singapore Airlines International Cup, then the S$1 million Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Sprint race in March 2001.

By April 2006, Singapore had seven Group 1 level races. Group One status is the highest recognition accorded by the International Cataloguing Standards Committee in London to any thoroughbred race.

Mar 26, 2011: Singaporean horse makes history at an international Group 1 race

Rocket Man, a local equine celebrity, is the first and only local horse to win at the Dubai Golden Shaheen.

Nov 8, 2014: Club opens a KF1 Karting circuit

The S$2 million KF1 Karting Circuit is Singapore’s first international standard permanent karting facility.

It features a 960m-long dual directional circuit, the only one of its kind in the world, designed by world-renowned Formula One track architect, Herman Tilke.

It’s also equipped to host international karting races.

2020: Covid hits

The club went from restricting visitor numbers on race days to closed-door races and finally a complete suspension of all races.

It started hosting foreign workers recovering from Covid, but by July 2020, it restarted races behind closed doors.

Jun 5, 2023: The final chapter

The Government announces the Club’s closure by 2027, with its last race to take place in October 2024.