The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) established a new all-time record for the highest World Pool Win handle on a single race during Sunday’s FWD Champions Day at Sha Tin Racecourse.
The G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize generated a total Win pool handle of HK$97.1 million ($12.39 million), fueled largely by the dominant performance of world-class sprinter Ka Ying Rising.
The figure represents a 30 percent increase over the previous record of HK$63.8 million ($8.14 million), which was also set by Ka Ying Rising during the G2 Sprint Cup earlier this month.
Of the total handle, HK$94.4 million ($12.04 million) was wagered on Ka Ying Rising alone, who secured his 20th consecutive victory by four-and-a-half lengths. The horse returned at odds of 1.05, the minimum possible return within the World Pool framework, while only HK$2.7 million ($344,387) was wagered on the remaining seven runners.
The record-breaking race contributed to a significant surge in overall engagement, with total betting turnover for the 11-race card rising 18 percent year-over-year to HK$1.798 billion ($229.34 million).
“I’ve never seen a tote figure like this, with almost HK$100 million in the Win pool,” said Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, CEO of the Hong Kong Jockey Club. He noted that Ka Ying Rising’s ability to break track records effortlessly while dominating world-class competition like Satono Reve was “absolutely sensational.”
