If horse-racing here has run its course, so be it

WHEN the news of the Singapore Turf Club’s impending closure was delivered, it was framed in practical terms, with figures that were hard to argue against.

The popularity of horse-racing has plummeted. Average attendance halved from 2010 to 2019, from 11,000 to 6,000 each race day. Post-pandemic, it halved yet again to just 2,600 per race day.

Meanwhile, the racecourse’s 120 hectares can hardly afford to be left unproductive, in the face of the land-scarce island’s increasing demands for space. Far more optimal to use it for housing, not least public housing – with property analysts swiftly calculating that it could host tens of thousands of new homes.