'Protest At Racecourse Could Have Been Dangerous'

A former president of the Racehorse Owners Association say the Jockey Club made the right decision in cancelling Wednesday night's races as it would have been extremely dangerous if protesters managed to enter the racecourse or shine laser pointers at the horses' eyes.

Apollo Ng said on Thursday that such actions could have easily caused injury to the horses and their jockeys, and even the spectators.

Some anti-extradition bill protesters had threatened to disrupt the meeting because a horse co-owned by pro-Beijing legislator and outspoken critic of the protests, Junius Ho, was due to run in one of the races.

After the Jockey Club cancelled the races, some people said they should have instead just cancelled the race in which Ho's horse – Hong Kong Bet – was running.

But Ng said such a decision would have been unfair to 11 other owners whose horses were scheduled to compete in the same race.

Ng added that the cancellation of Wednesday night's racing was not just bad news for horse owners and regular punters, but for all Hong Kong people, due to the revenue loss.

He said the cancellation of one day's races means a loss of around HK$100 million in tax revenue, and some HK$50 million in donations made by the Jockey Club.